Quote:
Originally Posted by bsdlinux
I read that about the distiller grains being fed to the cows after they are done processing the Ethanol. The problem is that the corn still has alcohol in it.. that is not a good thing to be feeding that to the cows... much less any corn for that matter 
Read this : Meat Wagon: Cow-feed misdeeds | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist
Just one of many stories that explains corn of any kind is not a good feed stock for cows, much less distiller grains that come from Ethanol production |
Well, for starters, you probably wouldn't walk off of a cattle farm alive if you told the cattle farmer that he couldn't feed corn to their cattle. Cattle will show the best gains from feeding corn.
When I read through that article, it's riddled with negative and very pointed descriptive words referring to distiller's grains as "mush" and "waste product".......and neither are accurate.
Linux - there are basically two types of distiller's grains that come from different types of ethanol processes.
One is DDGS, which is when dryers are used to dry down the 'wet grains' after they've been separated from the stream coming off of the distillation system. With these systems, it's basically impossible for alcohol to end up in the feed due to the very high combustion chamber temperatures in the dryers that will boil out any & all ethanol left over in the 'wet grains'.
The second type of distiller's grains is what some call DWG (Distiller's Wet Grains). To make it quick, this type of feed is made basically by skipping the dryer systems all together and selling the wet grains once they've been separated from the stream coming off of the distillation process. With this system, it's possible to get alcohol into the DWG if there is an 'upset' in the distillation process resulting in not all of the ethanol being boiled out in the distillation system. Although it's possible, I doubt it is the "norm" considering these places are in the business to make alcohol and not lose it going out in the DWG.
However, there's a very interesting statement in this article. It says, "And even the staunchest biofuel champions admit that without a use for distillers grains, corn-based ethanol
would consume more energy than it produces."
This very statement hints and confirms that with including the energy produced from feeding the distillers grains back into the market place, that corn-based ethanol does in face produce more energy than it takes to produce it.
Compared to oil, that's pretty good considering that to refine a barrel of oil it takes approximately 30% of that barrel. Not to mention it also takes about 1,800 gallons of water to refine a barrel of oil, compared to 3 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol.
http://media.mgbg.com/wkrg/photos/we...ater_Facts.pdf