Cellerate Process Technology Delivers Opportunity

As ethanol plants seek new ways to be more competitive, advances in using corn kernel fiber for ethanol processes have shown significant promise in adding value through the diversification of product streams.
“Over the last decade, existing dry-grind ethanol plants have aimed to extract value out of the corn kernel through maximizing production and capture of ethanol, carbon dioxide, dried distillers grain [DDG] and oil,” says Miloud Araba, Ph.D., head of technical services for Enogen at Syngenta. “Cellerate^® process technology converts corn kernel fiber into a diversified income stream and has been producing high-value D3 RIN-qualifying cellulosic ethanol on a commercial scale at Quad County Corn Processors [QCCP] in Galva, Iowa, since 2014.”

By combining Cellerate with Enogen^® corn, QCCP has achieved a 26 percent increase in total ethanol production, higher protein feed coproducts and improved oil yield.¹

"Cellerate is a diverse process technology that adds value to protein, increases distillers corn oil production, creates cellulosic ethanol and produces low-carbon-intense ethanol, all while allowing additional throughput from a dry-grind ethanol facility," says QCCP CEO Delayne Johnson.

"Cellerate is a diverse process technology that adds value to protein, increases distillers corn oil production, creates cellulosic ethanol and produces low-carbon-intense ethanol, all while allowing additional throughput from a dry-grind ethanol facility.”

With an EPA-approved D3 RINs pathway for more than three years, Cellerate process technology enables ethanol producers to leverage their existing infrastructure and significantly increase total production by using pre-existing assets, such as feedstock receiving and storage, product separation, and final product storage.

Together, Cellerate and Enogen corn can help deliver notable benefits to ethanol plants beyond what can be achieved through either technology alone, including increased throughput and yield, as well as a notable reduction in natural gas, electricity and water usage.²

1. Based on third-party verification procedures performed in 2016 by Christianson & Associates PLLP, a firm of certified public accountants and consultants
2. QCCP commercial production from 2014 to 2018