Xethanol Juices Ethanol From Orange Peel
Xethanol Corporation and Renewable Spirits, LLC have teamed up to build a citrus peel based pilot ethanol production facility in Florida. The pilot plant should be able to produce up to 50,000 gallons / 190,000 litres of ethanol in the upcoming citrus harvesting season alone, later expanding to over 500,000 gallons / 1,900,000 litres per year.
Xethanol is positioning itself as being committed to the production of ethanol and related products using locally available raw materials to service nearby major urban markets. Their biomass technology moves beyond traditional corn-based ethanol and includes everything from wood chips and yard waste to corn stover and municipal solid waste. Because most organic waste material is now either abandoned or land-filled at the producer's expense, biomass is potentially a significantly cheaper feedstock for ethanol production than corn.
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[Source: Renewable Energy Access]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
brad 8:18PM (12/21/2006)
Slated to begin production by the second quarter of 2007, the program plans to use a production technology process developed through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the USDA.
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Scott Johnson 9:36PM (12/21/2006)
Some say Xethanol Corp is a sham.
http://sharesleuth.com/2006/08/moonshine_blindness.html
Inform yourself and make your own opinions. :)
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Tim 10:16AM (12/22/2006)
It takes a lot more wasteful energy to distill ethanol than it does to transesterify (chemically treat) VegOil to produce Bio-Diesel which is a more energy dense fuel anyway. Energy density is why diesel mileage is better than gas which is better than ethanol. Now, if we modified our diesel fuel systems slightly, we could burn straight VegOil. Press it, filter it, burn the oil in our diesel engines and burn the pulp to create steam to power our steam turbine generators. Sounds like a bio-diesel PHEV. We may even be able to use the fibers in the pulp to create textiles, reinforce biodegradable polymers etc.. Humm, I may be onto something here...
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Jimmy 5:07PM (12/22/2006)
#3 "Energy density is why diesel mileage is better than gas which is better than ethanol."
That statement is incorrect. Diesel engines are more efficient than petrol engines even adjusting for fuel energy density. Statements of engine efficiency work on conversion of chemical energy into motion and not volumetric measures.
As far as ethanol, in current "flex fuel" vehicles, ethanol achieves about the same efficiency as gasoline. As ethanol has far better combustion properties than gasoline, it is possible to optimize and engine for ethanol and achieves greater efficiency.
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CM 12:57AM (12/23/2006)
Citrux peel also contains citrus oils, which burns nice, are excellent solvents, and smells wonderful.
Don't know how good citrus oil would be for bio-diesel, it burns cleanly but it might be too good of a solvent and dissolve plastic parts!
Still, they should be collecting that valuable citrus oil along with the ethanol.
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