Ethanol (C2H50H) is a 116-octane, environmentally friendly, renewable alternative to gasoline. It can be derived from many different sources, as long as they can be broken down into fermentable sugar or starches. Here at Marquis Energy we derive our ethanol from corn. Using corn has the advantage of being readily available in the Midwest, and the byproduct of the ethanol process allows for the creation of an additional feed source.
The process of creating ethanol begins with corn being ground up and mixed with water and enzymes. Heat is then added, and the starch in the corn is broken down into simple sugars. These sugars are then fermented, producing ethanol. The ethanol is then distilled out to pure anhydrous ethanol (less than 1% water). Corn oil is also extracted from the unfermented material, and the remaining byproduct is then dried to produce the animal feedstock DDG.
DDG is an important feed source for livestock. The low moisture content allows for long-term storage and shipment overseas on the export market. DDG serves as a concentrated source of proteins and fats for livestock. Additionally, here at Marquis Energy we use steam tube dryers which dries DDG at much lower temperatures than conventional gas dryers found at most plants, which results in better amino acid content and digestibility in our DDG.
The final byproduct of the ethanol process is corn oil. The corn oil produced at Marquis Energy is used for the production of biodiesel. This allows for a larger portion of the incoming grain at Marquis Energy to be used for renewable fuel sources.