Description
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol; can be used as fuel alcohol, drinking alcohol, and grain alcohol. The common type of ethanol is the one found in alcoholic beverages. It is also used as fuel for cars and often called alcohol or spirit.
Ethanol is generally produced by the fermentation of sugar, cellulose, or converted starch and has a long history. In Nigeria, local production of ethanol from maize, guinea corn, millet, other starchy substrates, and cellulose is as old as the country itself.
The opportunity for ethanol production in Nigeria is amazing. Right now, our demand is being met by importation.
Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world, producing about forty-nine (49,000,000) million tons per of the product annually. Cassava is one of the richest fermentable substances for the production of crude alcohol/ethanol. Cassava produces a better quality alcohol, and the distilling technique employed ensures a high quality product, free from all type of odors and not harmful to the environment.
There are two types of ethanol: (1) Denatured ethanol and (2) Hydrous ethanol. Denatured Ethanol: It is the one used in blending Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to E10, E20 etc. It is usually mixed with 2-5 low cost hydrocarbon that makes it unfit for human consumption.
Hydrous Ethanol: It is the natural ethanol used as industrial raw material in the production of alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, perfumes, drinks, medicaments and other industrial uses.
This report seeks to examine the financial viability or otherwise of establishing a cassava farm and ethanol production plant in Nigeria using cassava tubers as basic raw material. In Nigeria, mechanized cassava cultivation and processing is still on the development stage and the potential is very high.
The size and locations of the farms is seven hundred (700) hectares of land located in Edo State. Six hundred (600) hectares would be used for the farm while the remaining one hundred (100) hectares would be used for the construction of the production facility and other civil works. Improved cassava stem (TME 419) would be used in the farm and a yield of twenty (20) tons yield per hectare was assumed.
The capacity of the proposed plant is 2,500 litres in eight (8) hours working double (2) shifts the plant would operate for sixteen (16) hours at 80% of the installed capacity for 300 days per annum. The plant comprises of the following sections milling section, Liquefaction and saccharification section, Fermentation section, Distillation section and CO2 recovery section (A full breakdown is given in chapter 3.3). Other equipment’s like generator, weigh bridge, project vehicles would also be needed.
At eighty (80) percent of the installed capacity and working double shift of sixteen (16) hours per days, the plant would produce four thousand (4,000) litres of Ethanol, two hundred and eighty (280) litres of Industrial Alcohol, twelve (12) litres of fusel oil and two thousand, five hundred and sixty (2,560) kg of CO2.
The actual amount of cassava needed is dependent upon the starch content. Dry cassava chips contain about 75% of starch while fresh cassava tubers contain between 15-20% of starch, so per ton, 95.5% alcohol material will consume about us five (5) tons dry cassava (starch content at 75%, or 25 tons fresh cassava tubers (starch content at 15%)).
The plant would require forty (40) tons of raw cassava tubers, 11.4 kg of Active Dry Yeast, 7.6 kg of α-Amylase 20000u/g, 15.4 kg of Glucoamylase（100000u/g, 34.5 kg of Sulfuric Acid, 0.056 kg of Penicillin (80x104u/g), 1.32 kg of UREA and 11.4 kg of NAOH to produce four thousand (4,00) L of ethanol per day.
The domestic demand for ethanol is estimated at over two hundred and sixty (260,000,000) million litres annually while local production is about nine – ten (9,000,000 – 10,000,000) litres per annum. With a population of over one hundred and seventy-five (175,000,000) million people and an estimated national population growth rate of 5.7% per annum, an average economic growth rate of 3.5% per annum in the past five (5) years, Nigeria has a large market for ethanol.
Fusel alcohols, also sometimes called fusel oils, or potato oil in Europe, are a mixture of several alcohols (chiefly amyl alcohol) produced as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. The word Fusel is German for “bad liquor”. It is bad for drink, but it is good material for aromatic water.
Aromatic waters are clear aqueous solution saturated with volatile Oils (e.g. rose oil, Peppermint oil, or other aromatic or volatile substances e. g camphor. Their odours and taste are of those of the drugs or volatile substances from which they are prepared.
Aromatic waters may be used for perfuming, flavoring or for special purposes.
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula CO2) is a naturally-occurring chemical compound composed of two (2) oxygen atoms each covalently double bonded to a single carbon atom. Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in beer and winemaking.
Carbon dioxide is used by the food industry, the oil industry, and the chemical industry. Carbon dioxide is a food additive used as a propellant and acidity regulator in the food industry. Carbon dioxide is used to produce carbonated soft drinks and soda water.
