Raw material
Ethanol can be made from a number of raw materials containing sugar or starch, which in turn is converted into sugar. At the plant in Norrköping, wheat, triticale and barley are used as raw material. Approximately 550 000 tonnes of grain is needed to produce 210 000 m3 of ethanol.
Production process
Grain arrives at the plant by truck, which are unloaded in inlet funnels. With conveyors, the grain is transported to cleaning and temporary storing.
Milling is done into wholemeal flour.
Mashing. The fluor is mixed with water into a slurry to which enzymes are added. The starch in the grain (approximately 60 % of the content) is converted into a sugar solution, called mash.
Fermentation. Yeast is added to the mash and the sugar is converted to ethanol and carbon dioxide.
Distillation. In order to separate the ethanol from the mash the distillation is carried out in two steps; in the mash column and in the concentration column. The last water is removed in molecular sieves after which water-free ethanol is obtained.
The drying of feed. The alcohol free mash is called stillage The stillage is rich in protein and has a high-value for animal feed. The stillage is dried and palletised into the DDGS-product Agrodrank™ 90.