Integrated Bio-Refinery, Dairy Coming To Vicksburg
US - Vicksburg, Ariz., is about 50 miles west of Wickenburg on route 60 and considered by many as “the middle of nowhere.” Soon it will be the epicenter of one of the most innovative energy projects in the world.
25 April 2007
1 minute read
The XL Dairy Group recently completed Phase I of an ambitious project that will combine a dairy cattle operation with an ethanol refinery to produce clean energy at a new level of efficiency. It will use the waste products from both the dairy and the refinery to provide raw material or energy for the other part of the operation, thus sharply increasing the total efficiency.
The process will start with corn - shipped in from the Midwest - being milled. The milled corn will be separated into starch, bran, and germ. The starch will be fermented into ethanol, the germ will become corn oil and then biodiesel, and the bran is partially used as raw material for steam and electric production and partially used as feed for the cattle. A byproduct from the biodiesel production is germ cake that is also used either for fuel or feed.
The dairy operation is a key because manure - the byproduct of the cows - is used along with the corn byproducts to produce steam that will eventually produce electricity. All of the power needed to run both the dairy and the refinery will be produced locally by the byproducts.
