Fluid Quip Technologies Delivering Strong Results with Low Energy, High-Quality Alcohol System at Three Rivers Energy

September 06, 2024

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(Fluid Quip Technologies) Fluid Quip Technologies (FQT), a global leader in advanced technologies for the biofuels, beverage alcohol and biochemical industries, announced strong results from their cutting-edge Low Energy Distillation™ (LED) and Grain Neutral Spirits (GNS) technologies after 12 months in operation at the Three Rivers Energy (TRE) facility in Coshocton, Ohio.

“Our LED and GNS systems have been running at the TRE facility for over 12 months and are providing results that outperform the guarantees of purity and energy reduction,” said Neal Jakel, President at Fluid Quip Technologies. “This represents the third installation of FQT’s proprietary LED systems which are helping ethanol facilities around the world significantly reduce energy consumption and lower their carbon footprint.”

Three Rivers Energy is committed to producing high-quality renewable fuels while reducing its carbon footprint. The success of FQT’s LED and GNS systems aligns with their mission, enabling them to enhance their production capabilities, reduce energy consumption, and optimize their resource utilization.

“The GNS system is producing ultra-pure alcohol exceeding specifications, and we have seen significant energy savings with the LED system over time,” said Eamonn Byrne, COO and Director, Three Rivers Energy. “We’re happy to have partnered with Fluid Quip Technologies to install these state-of-the-art solutions that have driven efficiencies, improved our product portfolio and contribute to a more sustainable future.”

About Fluid Quip Technologies

Fluid Quip Technologies® (FQT) is a premier technology and engineering firm based in Cedar Rapids, IA, USA. FQT was founded on extensive experience within the agricultural processing, corn wet milling and dry grind ethanol industries. FQT’s skilled engineering and technical leadership has been developing new technologies and process solutions applicable to the beverage, biofuels and biochemical markets for more than 30 years. For more information, visit www.fluidquiptechnologies.com. READ MORE

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Reconfiguring The Flow (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
Fluid Quip Technologies DCO system achieves greater than 1.3 pounds per bushel oil yield at ACE Ethanol for 2024 (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Excerpt from Fluid Quip Technologies: -Fluid Quip Technologies (FQT), a global leader in the development and advancement of novel technologies and engineering solutions for the biofuels, beverage alcohol, and biochemical industries, announced impressive, consistent results from its Distillers Corn Oil (DCO) Technology™ after more than a year of operation at the Ace Ethanol facility in Stanley, Wisconsin.

“Our DCO system has been running at Ace Ethanol for over 12 months and helped the facility recover an average of over 1.3 pounds per bushel for the year of 2024, significantly outperforming industry averages,” said Neal Jakel, President of Fluid Quip Technologies. “The DCO Technology separates more oil to the thin stillage stream for increased yields, while removing solids from the evaporator to improve energy efficiency. A great feature of the DCO technology is its ability to recover additional oil without increasing the use of chemical/enzyme solutions, allowing plants to achieve higher yields without higher long-term OPEX.”

Ace Ethanol is dedicated to producing high-quality renewable fuels while staying at the forefront of innovation. The success of FQT’s DCO Technology supports their goal of enhancing efficiency and producing top-tier products.

“The DCO system has continued to achieve record oil yields for Ace. We saw increased oil out of the gate and the system has continued to show impressive recovery over the long-term without additional spend on chemicals, which has added more income to our bottom line,” said Neal Kemmet, President of Ace Ethanol. “We’re thrilled to partner with Fluid Quip Technologies on these state-of-the-art solutions, which have improved our efficiency, enhanced our product offerings, and contributed to a more sustainable future.”

About Fluid Quip Technologies

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: The 12-month results for Fluid Quip Technologies’ trademarked Low Energy Distillation and Grain Neutral Spirits systems are in. After more than a year in operation at Three Rivers Energy in Coshocton, Ohio, both bolt-on technologies outperformed initial estimates, according to Michael Franko, FQT’s vice president.

The LED system—designed to reduce process energy steam usage by reconfiguring distillation flow without relying on a membrane-based approach—was initially estimated to reduce steam usage per gallon of ethanol by 47% from the industry average of 14.5 pounds per gallon.

“The project has exceeded these goals and continues to exceed expectations,” says Eamonn Byrne, chief operations officer at Three Rivers Energy. The Coshocton plant was one of the first in the U.S. to deploy FQT’s LED and GNS set-ups, and according to Franko, FQT’s team has more than proven its ability to help ethanol producers reduce energy consumption and lower carbon intensity (CI) scores by reconfiguring distillation.

“The LED approach brings a lot of opportunities to the plant,” Franko says. “We see a significant expansion of this technology throughout the industry for its ability to lower CI.”

The LED and GNS systems partner well together, allowing access to new markets, as LED provides the added ability to produce high-purity alcohol (HPA) products through a revamped distillation setup.

Since 2019, a handful of ethanol producers have added GNS or other HPA production capabilities, most of which were designed to serve the hand sanitizer market. McCord Pankonen, service director of the ethanol and biodiesel divisions for EcoEngineers, says it makes sense for producers to invest in GNS or HPA production. He says the expected growth rate in HPA use in the next five years will range between 5% and 10%.

“A lot of people ask me why an ethanol producer would invest in HPA,” Pankonen says. “It is to diversify their portfolio.”

LED Efficiency
The opportunity of LED lies in its ability to cascade steam in a smarter way, Franko explains. “It utilizes the steam more efficiently. Many plants are using 20-year-old distillation technology. LED is a newer, proven distillation technology to operate more efficiently with lower cost.”

The LED process can lower a plant’s CI score by 4 to 6 points and cut steam usage by up to 50%. The system also eliminates the need for clean-in-place related downtime. Throughput could also be increased and water load reduced.

In traditional distillation processes, steam is used to boil the combination of fermented ethanol and water. The process allows the ethanol vapor to separate from the water. Directly injecting new or recycled steam into distillation helps control the temperature of the steam, which allows optimal ethanol separation from the water-ethanol mix.

Franko says the ethanol industry typically employs three methods of distillation: pressure distillation, vacuum distillation and hybrid distillation. Pressure distillation relies on two or more columns operating at different pressures in order to separate the water-ethanol mixture. Vacuum distillation utilizes a beer column, rectifier column and a stripper column, where steam is injected to separate the last of the ethanol after it has gone through the other columns. During that process, the injected water then must be removed downstream, increasing CI.

The LED system can be incorporated into either distillation design by eliminating the need for direct injection steam through a series of equipment changes, reengineering or rearranging flow patterns. Franko and his team refer to the changes as “distillation reclaim opportunities.”

The goal of LED is to arrange the hottest temperature and highest pressure on the cleanest fluids while reusing energy in multiple effects. Unnecessary phase changes are historically one of the largest users of energy in distillation, but LED removes them. This adjustment, while significant in the amount of energy conserved, is simple and operates similarly to existing distillation systems.

“This modern technology utilizes proven distillation principles, without a need for expensive replacement parts/membranes,” Franko says.

In some cases, an additional beer column will be added along with new reboilers. READ MORE