CO2 EMISSION REDUCTION BY USING CORN AS A RAW MATERIAL IN REFINED ALCOHOL PRODUCTION

Abstract

In the paper, we analyze the operation of a plant producing refined alcohol with a capacity of 25,000 kg/day, which uses corn as the primary raw material. On the site location, there are a cow farm, a plant for the combined production of heat and electricity using biogas, and a distillery production plant. The raw material for biogas is manure from a cow farm. The energy required for the production process and the operation of the supporting systems (space heating, own consumption of the CHP plant, etc.) is obtained by burning biogas and ethanol so that fossil fuels are used only in cases of plant start-up or incident situations of production process failure. The analysis presented in this paper aims to set up a carbon dioxide balance for a production plant with accompanying systems and its comparison to the carbon dioxide consumption necessary for corn's growth.