[Gasification] sugar beet ethanol - OT

[Ken Boak]

List,

I know this subject is heading off topic, but I was intrigued enough to try 
to obtain some figures for commercial bio-ethanol production from sugar cane 
and beet.

UK average tonnnage of refined sugar per hectare is 9.59 tonnes/hectare.

Coverting between tons and tonnes and US an UK gallons

1 hectare of beet could produce  8.69 tons of sucrose and 1226 US gallons of 
bioethanol.

A flex-fuel vehicle running on E85 returns about 20 to 30% less mpg than one 
running on gasoline.

With flex fuelled vehicles returning only about 20 mpg on E85 a hectare of 
sugar beet should keep a FFV running for about 28800 miles (when the other 
15% gasoline was supplied), or nearly 25,000 miles on just the ethanol 
content.

see http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byfueltype.htm

Whilst the beet to ethanol process seems quite efficient,  the low mileage 
figures for FFVs running on E85 suggests that there is a lot of scope for 
improvement in overal gas mileages, possibly by hybridisation or improved 
engine design.



Ethanol from Sucrose
The theoretical yield of ethanol from sucrose is 163 gallons of ethanol per 
ton of sucrose. Factoring in maximum obtainable yield and realistic plant 
operations, the expected actual recovery would be about 141 gallons per ton 
of sucrose. Using 2003-05 U.S. average sugar recovery rates, one ton of 
sugarcane would be expected to yield 19.5 gallons of ethanol, and one ton of 
sugar beets would be expected to yield 24.8 gallons of ethanol. One ton of 
molasses, a byproduct of sugarcane and sugar beet processing, would yield 
about 69.4 gallons of ethanol. Using raw sugar as a feedstock, one ton would 
yield 135.4 gallons of ethanol, and refined sugar would yield 141 gallons.

Sugarcane and sugar beet feedstock and processing costs were estimated for 
the 2003-05 period for the purpose of estimating the cost of producing 
ethanol using these feedstocks. The cost of converting sugarcane into 
ethanol was estimated to be approximately $2.40 per gallon based on 2003-04 
sugarcane market prices and estimated sugarcane processing costs. Feedstock 
cost was estimated at $1.48 per gallon of ethanol produced, representing 62 
percent of the total ethanol production cost. The cost of converting sugar 
beets into ethanol was estimated to be approximately $2.35 per gallon based 
on 2003-04 sugar beet market prices and estimated sugar beet processing 
costs. Feedstock cost was estimated at $1.58 per gallon of ethanol produced, 
representing 67 percent of the total ethanol production cost.

Molasses, from either sugarcane or sugar beets, was found to be the most 
cost-competitive feedstock. Estimated ethanol production costs using 
molasses were approximately $1.27 per gallon with a $0.91 per gallon 
feedstock cost. Given the market prices of raw cane sugar and wholesale 
refined beet sugar in the United States, raw or refined sugar would be 
costly to convert into ethanol. Ethanol production costs were estimated at 
$3.48 per gallon using raw sugar as a feedstock and were estimated at $3.97 
per gallon using refined sugar. Feedstock costs using raw or refined sugar 
accounted for more than 80 percent of the total estimated ethanol production 
cost.