Ace Ethanol to install D3MAX technology at its Stanley, Wisconsin facility
STANLEY, Wis., /PRNewswire/ -- D3MAX, LLC and Ace Ethanol, LLC announced that Ace Ethanol will be the first ethanol plant to integrate the patented D3MAX technology with its existing corn dry mill.
Ace Ethanol has received approval from its board of directors and members to proceed with the design and construction of the corn kernel fiber-to-ethanol plant. "The team at D3MAX was extremely excited to hear the news that the Ace board and members approved moving forward with the project," says, Mark Yancey, chief technology officer at D3MAX.
The integrated facility will also employ membrane-based ethanol recovery technology supplied by Whitefox Technologies, resulting in significant energy savings for the integrated facility. Ace has selected Fagen Inc. to build the new D3MAX facility. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, pending final negotiations and signing of the contract with Fagen.
Last year Ace Ethanol and D3MAX conducted extensive pilot testing of the D3MAX technology. "The D3MAX process was able to meet or exceed our performance goals," says Neal Kemmet, president and general manager at Ace Ethanol, LLC
Based on the results of pilot testing, Ace and D3MAX selected DSM to supply enzymes for the D3MAX process, and Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits
"We have assembled the best team with the best technologies to build the first commercial-scale D3MAX plant," says Yancey. "We are employing a fully integrated design at the Ace plant which will make the facility one of the most energy efficient ethanol plants in the US with the highest ethanol yield per bushel. The combined facilities will be so efficient that the energy use of the new integrated facility will be approximately the same as the current Ace ethanol plant. We are very excited to make this announcement and begin the construction of what we believe will be the new benchmark for the industry."
According to Yancey, the D3MAX process is the only corn kernel fiber-to-ethanol process that will not require an independent engineer to validate the cellulosic ethanol production every 500,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol produced. With the D3MAX process, cellulosic ethanol gallons can be measured directly avoiding the cost of re-certification required by EPA for in-situ corn kernel fiber processes and processes that mix corn starch or sugar with the cellulosic sugars. Currently, all other corn kernel fiber technologies require costly re-certification every 500,000 gallons.
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