Panda Ethanol Inc. announced that its Hereford subsidiary has successfully completed $188 million of debt financing on its 100 million gallon ethanol plant in Hereford, Texas, a cattle town in the Texas panhandle. The company will immediately begin facility construction on the 380-acre site and anticipates ethanol production to commence in the second half of 2007.
The first-of-its-kind facility (?? I have heard of others) will generate the steam used to manufacture ethanol by gasifying more than 1 billion pounds of cattle manure a year making it one of the most fuel efficient ethanol refineries in the nation. Once completed, it will be the largest biomass-fueled ethanol plant in the United States.
Panda Energy previously announced that they had reached an agreement for Lurgi PSI to build the Hereford plant. In October Panda announced it had received an air permit for the facility from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
This is the first of three plants to start construction that Panda has announced, the other two 100 million gallon plants being in Yuma, Colorado and Haskell, Kansas. The combined production of the three announced Panda fuel ethanol plants will replace 300 million gallons of imported gasoline annually. By utilizing bio-gas produced from manure instead of natural gas, each facility will save the equivalent of 1,000 barrels of oil per day.
Each 100 million gallon per year Panda Ethanol Facility will:
- Create annual spending for goods and services of approximately $90 million
- Have an economic impact on the community including corn of approximately $400 million annually
- Create approximately 1600 construction jobs
- Employee approximately 60 permanent jobs
- Increase household income in local community by more than $50 million annually
The use of biomass instead of natural gas, to power ethanol plants, eliminates one of the biggest criticisms of ethanol production, the use of large amounts of fossil fuels.
According to the Renewable Fuels Association the total current capacity of 101 operating U.S. ethanol biorefineries is 4,830 million gallons per year (MGY), the total number of plants under construction is (36) and expansions is (7) for an additional capacity of 2431 MGY for a total Capacity of 7260 MGY. These totals do not include the three Panda plants.
If these projections come true we will have met the DOE goal of 7.5 billion gallons a year for 2012 by 2008 and by 2010 we should reach the point where further use of corn for ethanol will effect our ability to produce our necessary food supplies. Cellulosic ethanol will be required to achieve further production if we are to proceed responsibly. Technology should be proven by then, but will the ethanol industry be ready to adapt in order to keep production growing at its historic rate? It is said that existing plants will be able to be modified with relative ease, but that still has to be shown. Is government oversight required to insure food supplies? I believe there are over 1000 large cattle feeding operations in the U.S., which could provide enough manure for ethanol plants for some time. They all may not be located close to corn ethanol plants, but biomass for cellosic ethanol is much more widely dispersed.
Panda Ethanol Completes $188 Million Financing For Hereford Facility, Panda news release, August 1, 2006
Panda Energy International, Inc., Dallas, Texas USA
More importantly, can we call this plant an STFU (Shit To Fuel Utilisation) system?
Posted by: Alex | August 07, 2006 at 06:06 AM
This is a great blog and full of infomation.
Do you have anything or any links on paper making?
I ask as there is a debate on the energy used to convert trees into paper Vs reclaiming waste paper, transporting and cleaning it to remake paper?
Regards
Alan
Posted by: Alan Lee | August 07, 2006 at 07:00 AM
Another great post, I'm glad I found this blog. Texas, leading the charge again!
Posted by: petropest | August 07, 2006 at 12:59 PM
Power generated from manure, or at least in small scale versions, has been around for a long time.
Plants like these should have been a REQUIREMENT way back when corporate farms started to dominate the industries. It disgust me to read news about lagoons of toxic manure polluting the environment; the air, the ground, and the water system. All it took was a little investment and the system would probably have paid for itself in no time.
If it was not for greed and cheap oil, projects like these would have save our farms and strengthen our economy.
Posted by: Charles S | August 07, 2006 at 01:54 PM
Using biogas to boil mash to obtain ethanol? Just plain wastefull. A wind powered heat pump system and solar concentrator would do the job without combustion.
Save that biogas as a backup for wind and solar. And run it through a high temperature fuel cell/turbine system at 75% efficiency. Then use the CO 2 from the fuel cell to grow algae in a solar system to produce biodiesel and more biogas.
And forget ethanol production from fuel farming, it should only be produced from waste or algae. Most transportation should come from renewable elerctric power. Only in the case of uses that absolutely need liquid fuel, like aircraft, should it be employed.
This scarce capital ought to be used to better effect a cure to global climate change or regions like Texas will burn to the ground. No more grass, no more cattle, no more manure, just desert.
The oil and water underground are all but gone and humanity is busy destroying what's left. Not a good plan.
Posted by: amazingdrx | August 08, 2006 at 09:38 AM
All new technologies require baby steps to get there. Some Iowa plants use coal to produce ethanol from corn. Now we're using manure to produce ethanol from corn. Soon, we'll use manure to produce ethanol from corn husks and other non-food biomass products.
We'll get there.
Posted by: Jeff Olney | August 08, 2006 at 10:24 AM
I've heard of ideas that could burn LA sludge instead of wanting to dump it onto Central California farmland... The country needs to make use of waste somehow... even if waste is burned for energy...
Posted by: n.l. belardes | August 08, 2006 at 05:14 PM
Sludge from LA (or any city I presume) could be converted into energy indeed.
At this moment I'm helping as a lead generator to some companies that have these and other technologies, like
- diesel from plastics
- syngas, methanol, heating gas from waste (and manure can also be seen as waste..)
I like the amazing Dr X's idea of using this kind of energy as a back up when solar and wind energy fail. In due time it will be that way, as we cannot produce sufficient waste and/or bio mass to replace fuels like we use them today.
But more important than PRO-d-UCING is LESS-USING. If all US SUVs and pick ups, that never get off road or have to overcome massive doses of snow, were to be replaced by more fuel efficient vehicles; or those that really need 4WD choose a lighter car with probaly better roadholding..
- if houses are designed and constructed to be better isolated against heat and cold you could reduce your fuelbills with major numbers. Or plant your own windgenerator?
Whatever, technologies exist and are emerging to help fuel our lifes. Iif we don't change our attitude, we'll fuel our own funeral pyres. As well of those of the rest of the world!
Posted by: JP Elverding - the Netherlands | August 09, 2006 at 04:37 AM
Small thing I forgot to mention afore: most of these processes are continuous processes; it's not really possible to reduce the input based on th erequired output; hoarding the gasses might be an opportunity that has to be looked into.
Another thing is that during this process heat and steam (not mention CO2 in some processes) is being used by other processes (like drying manure or using the steam for other processes; and CO2 could be used to speed up production of green house products and algae)
Synergy will pay off hugely!
Posted by: JP Elverding - the Netherlands | August 09, 2006 at 04:42 AM
If you have looked into solar energy as a method for heating your home, panels are usually the first things that come up.
There are, however, other unique methods.
The Solar Heating Aspect You Have Never Heard of Before
The power of the sun is immense. The energy in one day of sunlight is more than the world needs. The problem, of course,
is how does one harness this power. Solar panels represent the obvious solution, but they have their downside. First,
they can be expensive depending upon your energy needs. Second, they do not exactly blend in with the rest of your home.
Passive solar heating represents a panel free method of harnessing the inherent energy found in the sun for heating
purposes. If you come out from a store and open the door of your car in the summer, you understand the concept of passive
solar heating. A wide variety of material absorbs sunlight and radiates the energy back into the air in the form of heat.
Passive solar heating for a home works the same way as the process which overheats your car in the parking lot.
Posted by: heating | February 28, 2007 at 08:17 PM
Magnetic generators... there's a thought. This technology for electricity production has been around since Tesla's time. What if the electric companies aka monopolies would actually allow small companies to produce their own electricity without the government to step in and cause a permit waiting period to be years-what would happen then? Many people think it is about the lack of ingenuity but really, it is about the lack of money the monopolies will receive that keeps progress from going 'green'.
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