From the Sumter County Record Journal

First in a series about Livingston's new
ethanol/bio-diesel plant

By Tommy McGraw
Publisher/Editor
Livingston may become center of a cutting edge technology that could alleviate the Country from its dependence on foreign oil. Gulf Coast Energy, Inc (GCE) of Livingston will go on line this month with a demonstration model that may change the world in how fuel production is derived. Located in Livingston's South Industrial Park, the company projects to produce 35 million gallons of ethanol in their first year and 100 million gallons when in full production from wood waste. Local Attorney Drayton Pruitt who is Chairman of the Board expects the plant in Livingston will be a model nationwide that may even become portable to help the United States Armed forces in military conflicts or humanitarian missions around the world. Gulf Coast Energy is looking not only at Sumter and Alabama markets for their bio-diesel, ethanol facility but has plans to have plants in two other states.  They are looking to increase the number of plants with projected capital from investors and energy grants. Gulf Coast Energy's method of producing cellulose waste products into usable efficient fuel is nothing new. It's just an old application used with a new twist.

Feed Stock

The beauty of the new bio-diesel ethanol plant is that, "The feed stock or what it takes to make the ethanol is practically free," said Sean Fitz-Gerald, an attorney with Pruitt and Pruitt in Livingston and a partner in Gulf Coast. Fitz-Gerald said, "All we need is carbon based products. And according to a study we have done there is ample wood feed stock within a fifty miles radius of Livingston to keep the plant running." The feed stock can consist of any carbon based product such as wood, switch grass, corn stalks even household garbage said Fitz-Gerald. "The abundance of wood in this area is so prevalent that is why we will use the wood chips," he said.

Scott Hazen, Executive Vice President of Engineering and Construction  agreed. "We will basically be using the waste left over from the timber business. The scraps such as wood chips, sawdust even the bark or anything they don't need to make a 2x4 will be hauled to Livingston and turned into fuel.

"The entire infrastructure is there with the wood and paper mills and the trucking transportation. It is already in place. We won't have to create a new transportation system or source of fuel.

"It is not a stretch to say we can make ethanol out of anything that is carbon based," said Hazen. Gulf Coast is in talks with Mississippi and Alabama wood product producers to set up sources of feed stock from different operations for the new plant in Livingston.

Drayton Pruitt, Chairman of the Board said they will not be competing with the local pulp wood producers or loggers for wood. "What we want is the left overs,"
said Pruitt. "We can use the sawdust, wood chips, and even debris from the field where the timber is cut and harvested.

"You see all those wind rows, (rows of discarded limbs and un-marketable timber) that is piled into rows and burned by the land owner. The debris which has been burned in the past can now be chipped and hauled to the Livingston plant and turned in to a fuel for trucks, cars and even gas to supply plants like Big River Industries," according to Pruitt.

What will be made from the cellulose based byproducts are ethanol, butanol, methanol, propanol, ethanol and bio-diesel. Prior to these end products a synthetic
gas (or syn gas) is produced that is similar to natural gas. That gas can be made at the Livingston plant and piped next door to Big Rivers Industries or other plants in Livingston to replace the huge amounts of natural gas the companies use.

According to Hazen, "Our ethanol process utilizes gasification which we call reformation and Fischer-Tropsch reaction to take any carbon-containing feedstock, convert it to a synthetic gas (or syn gas), and then configure those molecules into the target fuel of choice. This is followed by traditional distillation and condensation to purify and liquefy the compounds.

"Gasification is not new technology and has been used in the coal industry for decades. Gasification combined with Fischer-Tropsch has also been utilized since the early 20th century, notably by the Germans in World War II after the allies took out their access to petroleum.

"The South Africans have been using this process to make gasoline from coal since the 1960s.  Biomass gasification simply uses biological materials such as wood or switch grass, which have extremely high carbon content instead of coal.

"In the process to make the fuel the syn gas is then transformed into the different ethanol fuels and the bio-diesel.

To begin with, the company will use the left over wood products that they can get from local wood manufacturing plants such as Mannington Wood Floors at Port Epes and Rock Ten Pulp and Paper mill near Demopolis.

The company will rely on local trucking companies to transport the material to the Livingston site. They will not have their on fleet of trucks according to Fitz-Gerald.
All the product is brought in and milled down or cut up to 3/16 of an inch in size. The product is put through a hammer mill that basically chops the material in to 3/16 of an inch material that is then feed into the machine that makes the ethanol.
The biggest obstacle is changing the hammer to accommodate the feed stock that is feed into it according to Hazen. The Engineer  gave an example such as going from hurricane debris to corn stalks. The hammer or chipping machine would have to be altered to accept the material.

U.S. Congressman Artur Davis District Representative Daryl Perkins who was touring the plant on Friday, April 4 said you could even deal with the U.S. Corps of Engineers when they are cleaning up hurricane ravaged areas. All that could be used rather then going to a landfill," said Perkins.

Hazen agreed, "Asplundh, the contractor for Alabama Power is currently paying $15.00 a load to dump the waste from tress into landfills. We can take the limbs and debris from them and save space in the landfills. By contract they cannot sell the waste but they can give it away. We just have to make trucking arrangements to bring it from Tuscaloosa to Livingston."

What's Next

Editor's Note: In next week's edition the process is defined and what the GCE plans are for expanding into other areas of the country. Why Butenol fuel instead of Ethanol and why that is not being used today in your car instead of gasoline. Also would residents in Sumter County be willing to be a test case for a product used in their automobile that is less than gasoline?