Making Fuel

Principles of Alcohol Production

Two types of alcohol will work equally well for fuel. They are ethanol and methanol. In

this e-book, we refer to ethanol when we speak of alcohol, unless we specifically say

methanol.

Alcohol content is measured in proof. The proof is twice the percent. Thus 100 proof

alcohol is 50% alcohol and 50% water. 200 proof alcohol is 100% alcohol.

Ethanol

Ethanol is also called ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol. All industrial ethanol was produced

from grain fermentation until the industry discovered they could make it cheaper from

petroleum. This was in pre-OPEC days.

The ethanol industry was geared to producing high-purity industrial alcohol or drinkable

alcohol. For this reason, they were locked in to using stainless steel and copper

equipment, and also to the process of distillation. Distillation served not only to separate

the alcohol from the water, but to separate other impurities from the alcohol - impurities

that might make a person sick if he drank it.

That is why the fuel alcohol industry started with technology developed for the liquor and

industrial alcohol industry. That was all the technology there was. As more people

experiment with making alcohol strictly for fuel, ways will quickly be found to do

it cheaper when we get away from the traditional thinking of the old distillers. Ethanol

can be made from anything containing starch or sugar. The higher the starch or sugar

content, the higher is the alcohol potential of the crop.

Cellulose in stalks, wood or paper can also be used to make ethanol, but the process is

expensive with present technology.

Starch is the most important storage form of carbohydrates in the plant kingdom.

However, another significant form is inulin. Artichokes, Dahlias and Dandelions all store

carbohydrates as inulin. The inulin is made up of fructose molecules instead of glucose,

as in starch.

It has been found that most of the carbohydrate is stored in the Jerusalem artichoke

stem before the bulb starts to form. If it is stored as fructose, and if it does not change to

inulin soon after harvesting, the fructose can be fermented as is. But if it is inulin,

we know of no commercial, economical enzymes available to break down inulin. (Bitter

almonds do contain inulinase.) The carbohydrate can be broken down with high heat

and strong acid, but with a lot of energy input and 20% or more destruction of the

sugar.

If the fructose in the stem is useable, the tops can be cut off and the bulb left in the

ground to grow again.

2

Fermentation

Enzymes break down starch into simple sugars, and yeast ferments sugars into

ethanol, giving off carbon dioxide gas as a by product. The process has been

used since civilization began. Starch is made up of long chains of glucose

molecules coiled together. The starch must be broken down into sugars that are

only one or two molecules long for the yeast to feed on.

In the process described in this book, the liquefying enzyme breaks the chemical

bonds at random inside the chain, producing shorter chains, or dextrins, as they

are called.

The saccharifying enzyme works on the end of the chain only. It could take off

the glucose molecules one by one from the ends of the starch chains and

eventually would convert all the starch to sugar. The liquefying enzyme gives the

saccharifying enzyme more ends to work on, however, and speeds up the

process considerably.

There are other monosaccharicles (one molecule only) besides glucose, but

glucose is the most common.

Disaccharides are two monosaccharicles joined together.

Table sugar (sucrose) is one glucose and one fructose molecule.

Milk sugar, or lactose, is one galactose and one glucose joined together.

Maltose is a disaccharide made up of two glucoses.

Yeast can ferment glucose, maltose, and sucrose rapidly, and galactose and

lactose slowly.

Enzymes are proteins that change a chemical entity, or molecule, of one

substance into a molecule of something else. The enzyme acts on the

substance, but is not used up. The enzyme changes one molecule, then

detaches from it and works on another molecule. A few molecules of enzyme will

eventually get around to all the molecules of whatever it works on, but the right

amount of enzyme will do the job faster.

People have enzymes in their mouths that break down starch. If you hold a piece

of soda cracker in your mouth, it will begin to taste sweet. This is exactly the

process that takes place in the mash. Enzymes are highly specialized. Each one

does only one thing. In this process, one enzyme chops up the long chains of

starch into shorter chains. Another enzyme changes the short chains of starch

into sugar.

Enzymes, like humans, function within a fairly narrow range of physical

conditions. They must have a certain temperature and degree of acidity. They

can be rendered useless by chemical poisons, heavy metals, high heat, etc.

Each enzyme has a certain set of conditions under which it works best.

When grain sprouts, enzymes change the starch into sugar that the new plant

can use for food. Before enzymes were avail-able for purchase, grain was

3

sprouted, or .malted,. then dried, ground, and mixed with the rest of the grain as

a source of enzymes.

This method can still be used, but it is quicker to use commercially available

enzymes. Starch can be broken down without enzymes with strong acid and high

heat. However, the process takes a lot of time and energy, and then the excess

acid has to be neutralized with alkali before fermentation can take place. After

the starch is changed to sugar by enzymes, yeast changes the sugar to alcohol

in the absence of air. The process is called fermentation, and it takes about 21/2

days.

Carbon dioxide gas is produced as the yeast changes sugar to Alcohol. A bushel

of grain yields by weight about 1/3 carbon dioxide, 1/3 ethanol, and 1/3 high-

protein residue. The carbon dioxide gas can be allowed to escape through an air

lock or a one-way vent valve, or it can be collected and used.

The fermented mash contains about 10% alcohol. At this concentration, the

alcohol begins to kill the yeast. The batching should be done so that all the sugar

and starch in the mash will have been used up by the time this10%alcohol

content is reached. It takes 13 pounds of sugar to yield 1 gallon of 190 proof

ethanol. The amount of raw material in the mash will be determined by its starch

and sugar content. In order to get fuel alcohol, the alcohol content must be

increased from 10% to 90 - 95%. At present, the only workable way to do this is

to distill it. In the future, other ways may be discovered which take advantage of

the different properties of alcohol and water.

Distillation

The temperature of the water-alcohol mixture is raised to above the boiling point

of ethanol (173 degrees F at sea level) but below the boiling point of water (212

degrees F). The alcohol changes to vapor and rises in the column, but some of

the water vaporizes with it.

In a simple still, like that used by the moon shiner, the distillate is about half

water. If this is re-distilled, a higher concentration of alcohol can be obtained, up

to about 195 proof. Further separation cannot be obtained by distillation because

of a quirk in the chemistry of the mixture. (Water and alcohol form an azeotrope

at this point.) The final fraction of water must be removed by other methods, if

this is necessary.

Farm alcohol plants can produce 190 to 192 proof alcohol with one pass through

a still equipped with a reflux column, which is a device for making the mixture of

liquids vaporize, condense, then re-vaporize over and over until the alcohol is

nearly free of water.

In summary, the starch is changed to sugar by enzymes. The yeast changes the

sugar to alcohol during fermentation, giving off carbon dioxide gas and leaving a

high-protein residue in the mash. The mash contains about 10% alcohol after

fermentation. It is then distilled to make a fuel alcohol that is 160 to 190 proof, or

80 to 95% alcohol.

4

After the mash has been distilled, the protein and the water are left. The water

can be reused after the protein is separated, or the entire stillage can be flowed

over straw or hay and fed to livestock.

Methanol

Methanol, also called methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, works just as well as

ethanol for fuel, but the process for making it is completely different. This book

does not tell you how to make methanol.

Methanol is a highly poisonous liquid. It will kill you if you drink it, and it can kill

you if it soaks into the skin.

Methanol is made by heating wood wastes, stalks, etc., under relatively low heat

and high pressure and then purifying the product by fractionating columns. It can

be made from material that is not suited to ethanol production, but if grains, for

instance were used to make methanol, all the protein would be destroyed.

Methanol can also be made from coal. Both ethanol and methanol have their

place in farm fuel plants.

5

Chapter Two

Measurements and Calculations

This chapter is not intended to scare anyone. It is, however, a necessary evil.

The tests described below are not hard to do - most are as simple as dipping a

strip of paper in liquid and looking at the color.

We suggest you read through it without trying to absorb all of it, then refer to it

when the test is called for in the instructions. Temperature affects the test

results. The standard temperature is 60 degrees F., but room temperature is

close enough. pH is a measure of acidity of alkalinity on a scale of 0 to 14. The

lower the pH number, the more acid the substance. The higher the pH, the more

alkaline the solution. pH is measured by dipping a strip of pH paper into the

liquid, then comparing the color with a standard color chart supplied with the

paper. Sugar content can be read on paper strips similar to pH paper, or tested

with tablets available at wine supply shops. In both tests, the color is matched to

a standard and the concentration read. .Tes Tape and other strips like .Clinistix.

for detecting glucose in urine are available at any drug store. Since it only reads

up to 2% glucose, a 1 to 10 dilution should be made of the mash before using the

low range paper. A one to ten dilution is made by mixing one drop of mash with 9

drops of water in a dry container and shaking. The strip is dipped, and the sugar

concentration reading multiplied by 10 to get the concentration in your mash.

Starch can be detected with iodine. When starch is present, a drop of iodine

added to the solution will turn it blue. This test solution should always be

discarded after the iodine is added. If no starch is present, the solution will be

reddish-brown. This test will show whether or not there are big clumps of starch

still present during cooking, and after liquefaction, if all the starch has been

changed to sugar. Ordinary tincture of iodine from the drug store works for this

test. A sample of the mash should be diluted for the test, and the sample

containing iodine should not be returned to the mash.

Alcohol proof is measured with a Proof and Tralle hydrometer, a glass device

with a long calibrated stem. The hydrometer floats at different levels in liquid,

depending on the liquids specific gravity (weight relative to water). The more

alcohol is mixed with the water, the less the specific gravity will be. The alcohol

proof is read on the marked stem where it emerges from the liquid.

Alcohol potential is read on a triple scale wine hydrometer that reads specific

gravity, sugar content by weight on the Balling or Brix scale, and potential alcohol

by volume. To determine alcohol content of fermented mash, a reading must be

made on the alcohol scale before fermentation and after fermentation. The

second reading is subtracted from the first to give the alcohol content of the

fermented mash.

Proof test - Alcohol begins to burn at 100 proof. If a little alcohol in a spoon

burns when a lighted match is passed across it, it is at least 100 proof. Caution:

6

take the sample away from the still before lighting the match. The blue flame is

hard to see in a well lighted area.

Most of the equipment mentioned can be purchased at our website or at

winemaking supply shops or ordered from a laboratory supply house. Your local

hospital, clinic, or any type of laboratory can put you in touch with a laboratory

supply company.

Enzyme Calculations

The amount of enzyme needed may be calculated on a dry starch basis (DSB)

according to the concentration recommended by the manufacturer. One bushel

of corn (56 lbs) containing 60% starch would contain 33.6 lbs starch. If the

enzyme is needed in the concentration of .1%ofDSB, multiply.001 x 33.6 to

get.0336 lbs of enzyme. If the enzyme weighs 10 lbs/gallon, divide .0336 by 10 to

get .00336 gallons of enzyme. There are 128 ounces in a gallon. So .00336 x

128 gives .43 ounces, or just less than ½ ounce per bushel of corn.

Enzymes will have different brand names, depending on the manufacturer, and

may used at different concentrations and temperatures. The enzyme supplier

will furnish recommendations for the amount of enzyme needed and its

temperature requirements. See appendix for a list of enzyme suppliers. Some

farm alcohol makers use two to three times as much enzyme as recommended

by the supplier. Use the tests at the end of each step to see if the desired results

have been obtained. If not, the enzyme concentrations may need to be

increased. There are other enzymes available to refine the process or for special

cases. After you become familiar with the batching, consult your enzyme

supplier about any special applications or problems. The following information

shows enzyme concentration, sample costs per bushel, and yield of alcohol and

byproducts.

Yeast dosage 2 pounds per 1000 gallons of mash.

1 Bushel of grain equals 56 pounds of grain.

1 Bushel of grain equals 2.8 gallons of alcohol

1 Bushel of grain equals 17 pounds of feed stock

7

8

Chapter Three

Step-By-Step Instructions

For Making Ethanol

Preparation

A lot of producers use wheat, corn and milo to make ethanol. The process for

making ethanol from other crops is the same except for preparation of the raw

material. Potatoes, for instance, would have to be sliced or chopped first. If you

are using something besides grains, you will have to experiment a little as to how

to prepare the feedstock.

If the raw material contains sugar, not starch, the batch does not have to be

treated with enzymes. The sugar, as in sugar cane, is ready to be changed to

alcohol by the yeast without pretreatment. The batch may need to be cooked

briefly to sterilize it before adding the yeast.

Crack wheat, corn, or milo with rollers or a hammer mill grinder. It.s best to use

rollers because fines in the mash are harder to separate from the liquid. If using

corn, it should be screened to separate any whole kernels that escaped cracking.

Whole corn kernels are likely to plug up columns.

Making The Mash

Materials Needed - Brewers yeast from the bakery; liquefying and

saccaharifying enzymes (See appendix for suppliers); sulfuric acid diluted half

and half with water (Caution: Always add the acid to the water, not the other way

around); lime; a little sugar; plastic bag; thermometer to read up to 212 degrees

F; pH paper; triple scale wine hydrometer that reads sugar content, potential

alcohol, and specific gravity.

Batching

Start out using 10 gallons of water per bushel of grain. You will end up with 30

gallons of water per bushel of grain. The tank size varies depending on your

application. However, for illustration purposes, we use a 4000 gallon tank.

Into a 4,000 gallon tank equipped with cooling coils and stirrer, put 1,000 gallons

of hot water, then 100 bushels of ground grain. Inject live steam and bring to 212

degrees F. Calculate how much liquefying enzyme you need. Measure out the

entire amount needed.

Add 1/5 of the liquefying enzyme you have measured out.

Boil the batch 30 minutes with stirring.

9

Cool to 195 degrees F. Add the rest of the liquefying enzyme measured out, and

hold the batch at 195 degrees for one hour, with stirring.

Note: Follow the instructions of your enzyme manufacturer. Take a sample and

add a drop of iodine to it. If a blue to purple color forms, the starch has not all

been broken down. If the sample containing iodine is colorless or red-brown, all

the starch has been broken down. It is possible to break down all the starch in

this step so that it gives a negative iodine reaction. Stirring is very important to

bring the enzyme in contact with the starch. This is probably the most difficult

step in batching.

(If all the starch has not been broken down, the saccharifying enzyme will do it, in

time, but you run the risk of not changing all the starch in the batch to sugar.)

Cool quickly to 140 degrees F by adding cold water to the batch. Add sulfuric

acid, diluted half with water, to bring the pH to 4.2 when tested with pH paper. (If

you overshoot with the acid, bring the pH back up with lime.) Add the

saccharifying enzyme. Maintain the batch at 140 degrees F for 30 minutes with

stirring.

Add cold water until the temperature is about 80 degrees F. Test with the triple

scale wine hydrometer. The specific gravity should be about 1.08. Record the

potential alcohol reading for later use. if the sugar content is above 20%, add

more water. Over 20% sugar will kill the yeast.

Fermentation

Add 2 to 21/2 pounds of brewers yeast for a 3,000 gallon batch. Crumble the

yeast up in a little warm water in a plastic bag. Sprinkle in a little sugar and mix

the yeast with your hands on the outside of the bag. As soon as the mixture

starts to bubble, the yeast is growing and should be mixed in with the batch. (You

can grow your own yeast in a super mash)

Maintain the batch at between 80 and 90 degrees F for 21/2 days with agitation.

The tank should be covered with a pressure cap or air lock to keep the air out but

let the carbon dioxide gas out. The fermentation itself will produce some heat.

When the yeast is producing carbon dioxide, it is making alcohol.

You can use an augur pump to mix the batch. Any pump designed for high

volume, low pressure, would be ideal.

After 21/2 days, take the potential alcohol reading on the triple scale wine

hydrometer again. Subtract this figure from the first figure obtained before

fermentation. The difference is the amount of alcohol in the batch now. The mash

should contain between 8% and 10% alcohol. If it does not, either something was

wrong in the batching, or the fermentation is not complete. If fermentation

temperature was below 80 degrees F, the yeast probably needs more time to

work. If the temperature was above 90 degrees, the yeast has stopped making

alcohol. In that case, the temperature should be brought down, more yeast added,

and fermentation continued.

10

All the sugar should be gone from the batch when fermentation is complete. Dip

a glucose test strip in the mash to see if any sugar is still there.

It is important to keep the air out of the batch, change temperatures quickly, and

be clean in handling the equipment and the mash. Also, it is possible, but not

probable, that your mash may turn .sour. or make vinegar instead of alcohol.

Distillation

The cold mash is put into the boiler. The alcohol vapors are stripped out of the

mixture and carried to the top of the column.

The water, since it vaporizes at a higher temperature, is not vaporized and

continues to fall to the bottom of the column. The alcohol vapors rise in the

column and more water falls out. The vapors exit the top of the column at 170 to

175 degrees F and 190 proof.

Drying The Alcohol

The highest concentration of alcohol obtainable from a still is about 195 proof.

The final fraction of water must be removed by other means, if this is deemed

necessary. Alcohol with water can be burned in engines as is, but most experts

claim all the water has to be removed if it is mixed with gasoline. There are

conflicting claims on this.

The alcohol need not be dried if it will be used straight in a vehicle, without

mixing it with gasoline, or if it will be injected into the carburetor.

Evidence indicates that when alcohol is burned straight in an engine, the water

serves a useful function. It changes to steam in the engine and gives extra

power, and is emitted as steam through the muffler. Those using straight alcohol

prefer about 160 proof. If the alcohol will be mixed with gasoline, the accepted

method is to dry it to about 197 proof. There is no specific recipe for doing this,

but there are several possibilities.

The alcohol can be dried by running it over zeolite, aluminum oxide or lime. The

chemical takes up the water. After use, the chemical can be dried with heat and

used again.

Equipment Needed

Mild steel tanks and equipment can be used for fuel alcohol production. Stainless steel

and copper will last longer, but are more expensive. Alcohol swells certain rubbers and

plastics. Test materials that will be in contact with the alcohol before use.

11

Fermentation

Almost any kind of tank can be used for fermentation. The size and number of the

fermentation tanks determine how much alcohol you can make in a week. Three

fermentation tanks will allow you to distill a batch of alcohol every day.

One fermentation tank containing 1,000 gallons of mash will allow you to produce 100

gallons of alcohol every 3 days, since the alcohol fermented brew contains about 10%

alcohol and it takes 2 ½ days to ferment.

Mistakes To Avoid

If the batching is not right, alcohol yield will be lost. Ideally, all the starch should

be converted to sugar and all the sugar should be converted to alcohol. If the

spent stillage contains sugar, more water should be added to the batch. If the

stillage still contains starch, the enzymes should be allowed to work longer, or

slightly more should be added.

During batching, after the liquefying enzyme has broken down the starch, the

starch can re-form if the batch is allowed to set at below 100 degrees F without

continuing the process. The alcohol kills the yeast at above 10% alcohol

concentration.

If all the sugar is not used up at this point, it is lost. It takes about an hour and a

half for the column temperatures to balance out. For that reason, it is better to

run off large batches at one time.

There are six variables that have to be adjusted for maximum output: (1) flow

rate of mash coming into the still (2) temperature of incoming mash (3) flow rate

of steam injected into the still (4) temperature of steam (5) flow rate of ref lux

(condensate returned to top, of column two for higher proof) and (6) temperature

of reflux. These six factors have to be balanced with each other.

The columns should be insulated to cut down on heat loss after all the bugs in

the plant have been worked out.

12

Chapter Four

Home Made Gas And Methanol

Kenneth Schmitt, Hawkeye, Iowa, built small plants to make a low-BTU gas and

/or methanol. The gas, called producer gas is made from wood waste, straw,

cornstalks, or any other organic waste. The gas does not transport well, but can

be used in any engine using natural gas that is near the site of production. The

gas is a mixture of methane and other gases. The producer gas, Schmitt

explains, could be used to provide the heat to cook the mash and make the

steam for the distillation columns of an ethanol plant.

Schmitt.s producer gas generator can also power irrigation pumps, and can even

be constructed to automatically augur in its own straw or waste as needed to

keep the unit running. Schmitt.s plant has another option - the gas can be

burned to heat wood wastes under high pressures and relatively low

temperatures to cause pyrolysis. The pyrolyzed wastes can then be fractionated

(separated) and methanol produced. Methanol can be used as a liquid fuel just

like ethanol.

At first glance, it might seem that with a methanol plant, there would be no need

for an ethanol plant. That is not so. There is no high-protein byproduct left from

methanol production. It would be a waste of protein to use grain, for instance, to

make methanol. The ideal situation would be to use the wastes not suitable for

making ethanol to make producer gas to fire the still, or make methanol if any is

left over.

One advantage to methanol is that it is not drinkable, and the Bureau of Alcohol,

Tobacco and Firearms do not regulate it. A highly significant fact is that any

plant that can produce methanol can also produce ammonia, which is used as

fertilizer. If a farmer had a methanol plant, he could produce his own fuel, his own

fertilizer, and apply the fertilizer to the land to grow more crops for food and fuel.

Now almost all methanol is made from petroleum gases, mainly natural gas. But

one ton of methanol can also be made from one to two tons of coal, 3.5 tons of

municipal garbage, or 1.9 tons of wood.

Methane can also be produced by digestion without air or manure, crop wastes,

or sewage. The methane can be converted to methanol with Schmitt.s plant.

Methanol has less BTU per gallon than ethanol or gasoline. Methanol has

56,560 BTU per gallon, compared with 84,400 BTU per gallon for ethanol and

115,400 BTU per gallon for gasoline. Kenneth Schmitt, a young man who never

went to college but had a strong interest in chemistry since he was 12 years old,

owned and operated a construction company, which was his main business. He

founded Schmitt Energy Systems and went into production of producer gas

generators, methanol units, and ethanol plants.

13

14

Chapter Five

Using Heat From Irrigation Motors

by Elmer Wagner, Belpre, Kansas

Using information available from various sources, the production potential for

making alcohol from the waste heat of irrigation motors seems very promising.

In order to find the efficiencies of internal combustion motors, information from

the University of Nebraska Tractor Tests was used. These motors would be

comparable to irrigation motors. Using the conversion factors, 1 HP equals

2546.4 BTU/hr, diesel fuel has 140,000 BTPU/gal and gasoline has 125,000

BTU/gal.

The test figures were used to calculate the following PTO efficiencies:

J D 7020 26%

J D 4630 28%

Case 1470 32%

Case 2470 28%

Ford 4000 gas 23%

For the purpose of illustration, a Case 1470 Turbo at 75% draw bar load

consuming 7.188 gallons of diesel fuel/hour was used. It would use 1,006,320

BTU/hr.

The Popular Science Magazine of July, 1976, gave the following division of heat

usage: 1/3 for power, generator, and water pump; 1/3 to heat water (335,440

BTU/hr); and 1/3 as exhaust (338,440 BTU/hr). This is 670,880 BTU/hr wasted,

or 16 million BTU per day now wasted.

It takes about 80,000 BTU to process a bushel of corn or wheat into alcohol if the

byproduct is dried. 16 million divided by 80,000 is 201 bushels per day, or, times

2.6 gallon alcohol yield per bushel, 552 gallons per day of 190 proof alcohol, or

21.8 gallons per hour.

An irrigation motor runs about 1500 hours a season, or 62.5 days. 1500 hours

times 21.8 gallons per hour is 32,700 gallons a season. Divide by 2.6 gallons per

bushel and you get 12,577 bushels per season that can be processed from heat

now wasted. The value of the 32,700 gallons of alcohol at $1.15 a gallon totals

$37,605, and the byproducts are worth about as much as the original wheat.

12,577 bushels at $3 is $37,731. If you have a better figure, use it.

A diesel turbo motor is more power-efficient than the other internal combustion

motors such as natural gas, LP or gasoline. The natural gas motor would be the

best choice of all to operate the process.

This application relates to irrigation motors being used

about 2months per year, but look beyond this. A farm or community with a bigger

motor operating a generator and a water pump

15

could provide electricity, hot and cold water, heating and power fuel, food from

irrigated crops, and meat from feed lots. All of this would make it basically self-

sufficient for the essentials. There would be no surplus of grain. Straw, wood

chips and other cellulose fibers could also be converted to alcohol in the process.

An irrigation system is now wasting the two elements which are the main

requirements of a distillation process - heat from the motor and cooling from the

water coming from the ground.