Page 28 RAIN Jan./Feb. 1984 The Stulls' 600-gallon fiberglass fermentation vats waiting to be “fueled” with chopped sugar beets. Energy can also be saved through the water cooling system. Large quantities of water are used to cool the hot, alcohol-laden vapor as it rises from the boiling beer up the condensing column. "When we realized how much water a still takes, we installed a water cooling tank with a capacity of 1,200 gallons," says Stull. "This way, we didn't need 220 volts to pump water out of a well." Instead, a small, circulating pump is used. By using carbon dioxide, a by-product of the fermentation stage, they reduced their total costs further. Knowing that their roses would thrive on carbon dioxide, the Stulls constructed a pipe system into their greenhouses, and roses were ready for sale in less time. The greater sales helped to offset the cost of the still. Perhaps the most significant factor in determining cost-effectiveness, nonetheless, is the choice of stills. Here is the objective: squeeze an optimal quantity of alcohol, at the optimal proof (usually 170), out of the least amount of feedstock and energy, with the least labor, while minimizing by-products like stillage (the nonfermentable residue from fermentation of the mash). The Stulls learned by experience; they found that a batch still—where fermentation and distillation occur in a single vessel—forces the temperature of the boiling mash to rise as the alcohol in the mash vaporizes. At this latter stage, the proof of the alcohol decreases. "There is a point," states Cynthia Stull in her grant report, "where the value of the alcohol being produced drops below the cost of the energy to produce it. If you can make or purchase a continuous-running still, you eliminate many of the problems you will encounter with a batch still. Because you are constantly feeding the continuous-running still with fresh mash, rich in alcohol, both your proof and flow rate of product will remain high." As for the cost-effectiveness of intermediate-scale alcohol production, the Stulls report mixed results. Presently, the cost of electricity and feedstock roughly compare to the cost of gasoline; they aren't yet able to cover labor expenses. Cynthia Stull is, nevertheless, optimistic: "When gas costs $1.40 to $1.50 per gallqn, alcohol production becomes cost-effective, including labor," she says. Figures such as these, along with a series of valuable tables for figuring mash dilutions, sources for purchasing equipment, and recommendations for avoiding problems, are clearly laid out in Cynthia Stull's 74-page report, "Fuel Alcohol: The Road to Independence," available free from RAIN. (Cynthia Stull, 2175 James Howe Road, Dallas, OR 97338.) Developing Recycling Programs As landfill space becomes increasingly scarce, and as the cost of virgin materials rises, more municipalities are turning to recycling programs. In many cases, however, accurate information on developing the most functional residential recycling system, or recycling operation at disposal sites, is not readily available. The Association of Oregon Recyclers (AOR) sought to meet this need with their U.S. Department of Energy A.T. Small Grant. AOR hired Resource Conservation Consultants, a Portland-based organization, to perform extensive research on recycling programs in Oregon. The results of this research were published by AOR in a manual for establishing new multimaterial recycling systems or improving existing ones. The manual's first section describes features of programs throughout Oregon, from innovations in collection vehicles to elements of a successful promotion effort. A table shows the extent of residential collection services in Oregon. Also in this section, of potential value to any recycling group in the U.S., are descriptions of uniquely successful recycling or collection programs in El Cerrito and Palo Alto, California, and Boulder, Colorado. The Palo Alto program, unlike the other two, maintains a composting/wood recovery system at the landfill site. The composted material becomes landfill cover that will eventually serve as soil for a park planned for the site. Section two outlines recycling operations at disposal facilities in Oregon. It concludes with a discussion of a landfill recycling facility in Nottingham, New Hampshire, where items that are reusable are sorted and made accessible to the public. The facility's success has also involved creative marketing. Before recyclables are sold, they are accumulated in large quantities so they can be sold at the higher bulk rates, and materials are jointly marketed with rural recycling programs in the area. Marketing considerations, promotional strategies, and details about collection equipment are discussed in the manual's third section. In section four, technical
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz