So I start by doing it as a separate trash collecting service to make fuel. I’m not sure I can get subsidies to do that in the US any more, but if I’m charging to take away the spent biomass and selling fuel, I’m not sure taking tax dollars as well would feel right.
I’ve also heard folks are feeding it to ruminants. although that’s harder with the post ethanol waste product.
Ethanol laden biomass would be fine, 'cause I started with boozey yeast, but CO2 or Hydrocarbon would work. I’d charge more for taking away the flammable stuff (ethanol), and it would already have fuel in it!!
Edit: I’ve also heard folks are feeding it to ruminants. although that’s harder with the post ethanol waste product.
Two reasons I see, one is I’d like to be doing this at cryogenic temps and the amount of surface area at a surface press may interfere with those temps considering the surface area + compression, resulting in pulling more undesirable compounds like chlorophyll and plant lipids and waxes due to the increased temperature
Second is (and I don’t have data on this nor the play money to buy a filter press to test out) but I’ve heard that they squeeze more undesirable stuff out regardless of temperature, I’m moving towards cryo extraction to avoid having to winterize on the back end so that would also be self-defeating
Has anyone tried using the “cheap” explosion-proof top-loading Chinese centrifuges? Seems they spin fast enough to recover 96%+ of the ethanol from the biomass and are under $10,000. My main bottleneck right now is extraction and I am running out of options that aren’t over $100k.
