NREL DOE ETHANOL PILOT-PLANT - CURRENT STATUS AND CAPABILITIES/

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has built and operated a pilot-plant to convert lignocellulosic feedstocks to ethanol for th e U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The process development unit (PDU) has a designed throughput of I ton (dry basis)/day of biomass and is e quipped to handle a variety of feedstocks. Major processing systems in clude feedstock milling, pretreatment, simultaneous saccharification a nd fermentation (SSF), and ethanol distillation. Several experimental runs have been successfully completed since the startup of the plant i n March 1995. The plant capabilities are continually being improved to meet the needs of our industrial partners and to facilitate NREL's pr ocess development work. This paper reports on various aspects of commi ssioning and operations, the present capabilities, and plans for use o f the facility. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.