ICM competes two 1,000 hour performance runs of cellulosic ethanol process

August 19, 2015 |

In Missouri, ICM Inc. announced the successful completions of its first and second 1,000-hour performance runs (1,100 continuous hours each run) of its patent-pending Generation 2.0 Co-Located Cellulose Ethanol process.  The runs, performed at ICM’s pilot plant in St. Joseph, Missouri, prove out the colocated technology design for the conversion of cellulosic biomass feedstocks, including energy crops such as switchgrass and energy sorghum, agricultural crop residues, and forestry residues, to cellulosic ethanol and coproducts.

The first performance run, which ran from March to late April, focused on switchgrass, a perennial crop as its feedstock. The second performance run, which ran from early June to late July, focused on energy sorghum, an annual crop as its feedstock. Essentially, both runs were similar in nature, but with a few minor operational modifications included to allow for smoother operation between the two runs.

The 1,000-plus hours of continuous production in each run are a significant achievement, as it qualifies these data sets for federal loan guarantee programs, which can be utilized in the financing of new, advanced generation renewable energy technologies.

From both mechanical and process operations perspectives, the two 1,000-hour Generation 2.0 (Gen. 2.0) runs performed continuously and exceptionally well on a 24/7 basis, as would be required in a commercial operation.

These runs also validate ICM’s colocated model that produces valuable boiler fuel and animal feed co-products in addition to cellulosic ethanol.

Category: Fuels

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