Ethanol from Cheese?

There’s always a better whey.

A Wisconsin cheese producer, Joe Van Groll of Stratford, Wisconsin, has a way with whey.

For nearly a decade, Van Groll experimented using the waste product of cheese manufacturing, whey permeate, to manufacture ethanol. During the past four years, he’s been doing just that, and believes his process can produce ethanol for less than $1 a gallon.

• » See also: Scientists Researching How Plants Can Make Petroleum
• » Get Gas 2.0 by RSS or sign up by email.

In an effort to avoid waste and simplify things, Van Groll’s process:

1. Turns whey permeate into ethanol.

2. Separates and dries the yeast coproduct for feed.

3. Utilizes the heat produced from fermentation and distillation to make biodiesel.

4. Waste heat, water and carbon dioxide can be used to raise oil-bearing algae for biodiesel.

5. Incorporate an anaerobic digester that turns wastes into methane to power the process.

10 billion pounds of cheese are produced in the United States every year and that results in 86 billion pounds of whey permeate. Much of the waste is spread onto farmers’ fields at the cheese makers expense, but that is limited and environmental regulators are beginning to restrict the process.

The other option is to dispose of the waste in municipal water treatment facilities, but because of its high biological oxygen demand, pretreatment is required.

Van Groll says, “My process takes a cost center and turns it into a profit center.”

Will his process make it to your fuel tank? Several entrepreneurs and a few countries have shown an interest in the process.

Source

Tweet This Post