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So, to answer the question “Can you pellSet DDG?” my answer is yes. At least for the DDGS used in our trials (i.e., unmodified and defatted from a single fuel ethanol plant), we were able to produce high quality pellets without the use of binders. Also, we did not find detrimental effects on the resulting nutrient compositions. However, I must provide a few caveats. One will probably need to use somewhat different processing conditions for each source of DDGS, and one may not always be able to (easily) pellet all DDGS. However, these findings should provide a reference point for follow-up studies and a basis for further discussions.

There is definitely room for additional research in this area. For example, there is a need to quantify the effects of various die L/D ratios; to examine the pelletability of various sources of DDGS from a variety of ethanol plants; to quantify how differences between plants influence DDGS composition and physical properties and how these impact pelletability; and to examine whether hot vs. cold DDGS has an effect (e.g., pelleting at the ethanol plant vs. pelleting at a feed mill). Also, more work needs to be pursued to examine whether nutrient damage actually occurs during pelleting, and if so, at what processing conditions. For example, are temperatures reached that denature proteins? If so, how does this impact nutrient digestibility and quality? We did not observe any of these effects, but at extreme processing conditions, these effects may occur. Furthermore, feeding trials will need to be conducted to determine the efficacy of pelleted DDGS in various livestock diets. Indeed, much work remains.

Disclaimer: Mention of a trade name, propriety product or specific equipment does not constitute a guarantee or warranty by the USDA, and does not imply approval of a product to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.

AUTHOR Dr. Kurt Rosentrater is a lead scientist, and an agricultural and bioprocess engineer, at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service’s North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Brookings, S.D. Reach him at kurt.rosentrater@ars.usda.gov or (605) 693-3241.

Pelleting Concepts, LLC was formed in 1995 to design and manufacture a system that will improve the efficiency of pelleted animal feeds in both manufacturing and consumption. Pelleting Concepts has successfully developed, tested and sold a production prototype of a steam-pressurized pelleting system. This pellet mill improves efficiency in three ways:

1) it softens the grain so it is more easily pelleted
2) it creates pellets that are more stable in the long term as usable feed
3) it created pellets that improve feed efficiencies of poultry and livestock
Pelleting’s patented process, called “pressurized pelleting”, generates higher quality pellets at lower costs. Pressurized pelleting increases the gelatinization of the starch in grain, which, in turn, creates a more durable and digestible feed pellet. This process offers considerable economic benefit to the feed industry due to the process which heats the grain during the conditioning process to a temperature that destroys pathogenic bacteria and will facilitate the growth of healthier livestock.

Bixby Energy Systems, Inc. was founded by Robert Walker in June of 2001. Already a successful inventor/entrepreneur Walker invented the Sleep Number Bed and began marketing it through Select Comfort Corporation, a company he and his wife JoAnn founded in 1987. Select Comfort grew rapidly into a company with more than 400 stores and sales in excess of $700 million. Select Comfort is today ranked as the #1 bedding retailer in the U.S. by Furniture Today magazine.

After retiring from Select Comfort, Walker became concerned with the developing energy crisis and the real possibility that the world was running out of fossil fuels. The increasing concern with global warming also made him realize that new energy solutions would be needed in the future. In 2000, when energy prices skyrocketed, he began researching alternative energy in earnest and quickly learned that the waste materials of the world, biomass, municipal solid waste, sewage, wood waste, even rubber tires carried huge potential as new energy sources. He also realized that the key to harvesting and processing these materials so that they could eventually be utilized as alternative fuels required developing an efficient, cohesive acquisition and transportation system that could efficiently and economically access this potential.

Bixby Energy’s research in this new energy arena resulted in the development of the MaxFire biomass stove in the fall of 2004. Capable of burning dry shelled corn, wood and biomass pellets to 99.7% efficiency, the MaxFire today represents the state-of-the-art in stove technology. That year, Bixby also acquired a transportation company with a unique delivery method that would become

The issue is demonstrating that we can take these biomass products and make them work as is,’ without adding additional cost by pelleting, etc.,says Benike, general manager of Northern Excellence Seed L.L.C. in Williams, Minn. The town of about 200 is about 20 miles east of Warroad and about 45 miles east of Roseau, Minn.

Soon, Benike will be part of a demonstration to study the effectiveness of electrical generation from perennial grass crops.

It was announced June 27 that Northern Excellence Seed – a handler of turfgrass seed to the nation and the world – will be one of the first commercialized applications of smaller-scale biomass energy in the U.S.

Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, made the announcement. The $230,000 grant will go to the Giziibii Resource Conservation & Development Council in Bemidji, Minn., which channels the money to Northern Excellence to fund the equipment. It is one of a set of annual Conservation Innovation Grants issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.

The project will use some of the 2 million pounds of screenings at Northern Excellence, as well as perennial grass seed straw from two specific producers in the Giziibii and Pembina Trail economic development areas. The biomass will be burned in a low-water use gasification system to produce syngas, or synthetic gas, to generate electricity for the plant.

The gasifier for the Northern Excellence Seed plant will produce 100 kilowatt hours – enough to take care of the electricity needs for the plant itself and perhaps a little extra that could be sold on the grid. The electricity would displace the seed company’s electric bill, which typically runs in the $50,000-per- year range. If successful, it would eliminate the $10,000 to $15,000 annual bill for burning the company’s waste screenings

A Toronto-based company called Woodland Biofuels Inc. has attracted its first institutional investor, Investeco Capital Corp., which has funded $1.25 million (Canadian) of what is expected to be a $3.25 million investment. Like others in the market, including Montreal-based Enerkem, the company uses a gasification process to break down wood biomass and agricultural residue. It can also process human and animal sewage “sludge” and municipal solid organic waste. The gas is then processed through a series of catalytic reactors to produce ethanol, distillation water and steam. Investeco determined the process was “extremely efficient” and sufficiently scaleable to support Woodland’s march toward commercialization. Woodland, it should be pointed out, was recently granted $9.8 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada toward development of a demonstration plant for its process.
Although Woodland ‘s CPR™ process is proprietary (patented), the components it uses are standard within the petrochemical industry. All equipment is state-of-the-art, and is considered to be off-the-shelf. Each plant is specifically designed for the site selected by the purchaser, in consultation with the science and engineering staff at Woodland.

The plant equipment is fabricated and skid-mounted at their Edmonton plant (or other more convenient locations throughout the world, depending on the eventual installation site) by Thermo Design Engineering, Woodland ‘s engineering partner. After testing and quality control, it is then shipped to the selected plant site.

The selection as to which plant model to build, and which chemical to produce is always a joint decision between the plant purchaser and Woodland ‘s science and engineering team. The parameters of the plant configuration are influenced by such factors as:

Existing business factors of the purchaser
Amount of residue available on site
Proximity to road, barge or rail line
Availability and cost of natural gas
Chemical market factors
Need for internal use of the product chemical

Minnesota Valley Alfalfa Producers started plans to generate electricity from alfalfa stems 14 years ago. But after investing six years of effort and millions of dollars, the farmer-owned cooperative was forced to pull the plug on the project when its partners dropped out.
 

Despite its rocky start, MnVAP went on to became one of the nation’s largest alfalfa pellet mills, says Montevideo farmer Keith Poier, MnVAP chair. And now — as Minnesota pursues ambitious renewable-energy goals — MnVAP has returned to its founding vision of biomass power. The cooperative wants to supply biomass fuel pellets to Minnesota’s growing renewable-energy sector.

“MnVAP members initially signed on with the intent of being a renewable energy company,” says Kim Larson, a Willmar farmer and consultant who helped organize the co-op in 1994, “and they are once again looking at renewable energy opportunities.”
 

Late last year, the cooperative received a $1 million renewable-energy grant from the Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund. MnVAP will use the grant money to test a new technology for grinding and drying high moisture agricultural fibers, such as wood, native grasses and crop residues.
 

“Innovative and new renewable technologies, such as solar and biomass, have trouble competing with conventional energy in the marketplace,” said Scott Wilensky, Xcel Energy acting vice president of regulatory and government affairs, in a written statement. “The fund’s objective is to remove barriers to entry of new renewable-energy technologies.”
 

MnVAP will work with AURI and Canadian equipment manufacturer First American Scientific Corporation to test a biomass pulverizing method known as a kinetic disintegration system or KDS. KDS was originally developed for the mining industry, Poier says. Now it’s being used by other industries that need to grind and dry materials before condensing them into pellets.
 

KDS combines grinding and drying into one operation, eliminating several processing steps and lowering fuel use, Poier says. With this new technology, MnVAP hopes to cut its manufacturing costs in half, he says. That “would allow them to be competitive in a biomass industry,” says Al Doering, scientist at AURI’s coproduct lab in Waseca.
 

Prairie Fire BioEnergy Cooperative!
Prairie Fire BioEnergy is turning the abundant resources of Western Kansas into a replacement for natural gas energy. With the help of its member producers, Prairie Fire BioEnergy is turning plant-based resources into clean burning, renewable biofuels for industrial users.

Current processes we are implementing..

Biosolid Fuel (more)
Gasification  (more)
Pellet/Bricking of Biomass (more)

Who is Prairie Fire BioEnergy Cooperative?
A farmer-producer-supplier cooperative, under construction in Healy, Kansas, which is organized to produce alternative fuels from renewable biomass inputs.

What is your fuel manufactured from?
Ingredients in our fuel are renewable biomass inputs such as baled hay, out of condition hay, seed hulls, crop stubble, and other products.

We are a Leader in Biomass energy production and delivery.
Prairie Fire has identified and solved problems in collecting and delivering biomass in large quantities. Prior to this biomass energy was difficult to implement due to not being able to

Alternative Energy Solutions offers cost effective alternatively fueled electrical generation plants from 25 kWe to 30 MWe and larger. Our plant designs provide a superior fit into the fragmented biomass fuel market and can be located close to the fuel source.