Sleepin,
Not really new to the shareholders................new to those in the biofuel industry however.
"According to Brian Nichols, President of FASC, "We are finally attracting serious attention from the alternative energy sector. The KDS equipment's ability to remove water while pulverizing and cleansing wood and agricultural waste has proven to be a valuable pre-treatment for end users who are developing biofuels from agri-waste."
Brian uses the term "pre-treatment"............also called "preprocessing", an essential element in the manufacture of the two most common biofuels.....bioethanol and biodiesel. Read the following:
"Biomass preprocessing is one of the primary operations in the feedstock assembly system and the front-end of a biorefinery. Its purpose is to chop, grind, or otherwise format the biomass into a suitable feedstock for conversion to ethanol and other bioproducts. Many variables such as equipment cost and efficiency, and feedstock moisture content, particle size, bulk density, compressibility, and flowability affect the location and implementation of this unit operation. Previous conceptual designs show this operation to be located at the front-end of the biorefinery. However, data are presented that show distributed preprocessing at the field-side or in a fixed preprocessing facility can provide significant cost benefits by producing a higher value feedstock with improved handling, transporting, and merchandising potential. In addition, data supporting the preferential deconstruction of feedstock materials due to their bio-composite structure identifies the potential for significant improvements in equipment efficiencies and compositional quality upgrades. Theses data are collected from full-scale low and high capacity hammermill grinders with various screen sizes. Multiple feedstock varieties with a range of moisture values were used in the preprocessing tests. The comparative values of the different grinding configurations, feedstock varieties, and moisture levels are assessed through post-grinding analysis of the different particle fractions separated with a medium-scale forage particle separator and a Rototap separator. The results show that distributed preprocessing produces a material that has bulk flowable properties and fractionation benefits that can improve the ease of transporting, handling and conveying the material to the biorefinery and improve the biochemical and thermochemical conversion processes."
So.......feedstock preparation.....by the KDS.......instead of the traditional method of the more costly hammermill/rotary drum dryer/separator method is attracting attention........and rightly so.
Remember Duane Hultgren from MnVAP made these points:
.........MnVAP traveled to Ontario, Canada to see the KDS in action and discovered that it was substantially superior to their existing machinery. Whereas the old infrastructure required separate operations for both the drying and compacting of material such as alfalfa, the KDS machine was able to dry and compress at once.
Hultgren stated that the KDS is much more efficient in that no natural gas is required to dry the material, it captures all dust, and there is a 20% reduction in electricity per ton.
I believe we'll learn he's not the only one in the industry reaching these conclusions.
Hongcouver
AI
