Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 19. Pacific Ethanol Plants
Plant
Location
Status
Output/ year
Columbia
Boardman, OR
In operation
40 million
Madera
Madera, CA
In operation
40 million
Front Range Energy
Windsor, CO
In operation (partially owned)
48 million
Magic Valley
Burley, ID
Construction
50 million
Stockton
Stockton, CA
Construction
50 million
Imperial
Calipatria, CA
Construction suspended tem-
porarily
NA
Pacific Ethanol
market ready technology; the company does no
have an R&D organization and focuses its efforts
on improving the production processes developed
by other research entities (Davis, 2008b).
For the cellulosic ethanol plant the raw mate-
rial was selected to make extensive use of the
abundant resources in the local area. This was
the most important criterion in the selection of
the feedstocks for the new process, based on this
criterion three feedstocks were selected: Corn
stover, wheat straw and wood chips. However,
their plan to use wood was discarded due to its
prohibitive cost, about $100 to $120 per ton. The
reason being, that most of this feedstock is used
in the pulp and paper industry which is able to
pay this cost. Pacific Ethanol expects this cost
to commoditize as the ethanol industry grows
(Davis, 2008b).
The biggest logistic issue for the supply is the
process of collecting and baling raw materials
in a central collection area where it can gather a
considerable amount of feedstock; another issue
to consider is the densification of these materials
for transportation to make the transportation more
efficient. Pacific Ethanol has created its own sup-
ply system building alliances with local farmers to
ensure the supply of feedstocks for the operation
of the demonstration plant which will require 100
tons a day of feedstock. Once the plant is fully
operational this will increase to 1000 tons a day
(Davis, 2008b).
This division is in charge of putting in place the
human and material resources and processes for
the production of ethanol and its by-products. This
division is responsible for implementing the pilot
projects with the cellulosic technologies.
Pacific Ethanol has several plants in operation
and construction in the Western US with a planned
production capacity of 420 millions of gallons per
year for 2010 (Table 19). This supply is a just a
fraction of the current demands fostered by the
federal and state reforms of the previous years.
Kinergy Marketing
This division is in charge of distribution and sales
of Pacific Ethanol, Inc. Kinergy's customer base
are integrated by the major oil companies as well
as some other small players in the energy industry.
The operations of Kinergy are driven by the
increasing demand for ethanol in the Western
United States; this demand exceeds the produc-
tion capacity of the states of the region so Kinergy
sells ethanol produced in the Midwest in addition
to Pacific Ethanol's own production.
Oregon Cellulosic Ethanol Plant
Kulinda Davis, Ph. D. and Pacific Ethanol's Tech-
nical Manager, describes the company as a technol-
ogy integrator which focuses on commercializing
