Energy supply for our time
The development of renewable energy sources such as ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas is of great importance in securing future energy supplies in order to decrease oil dependency and reduce environmental impact.
Alfa Laval has a well-established position in the biofuels field and supplies a comprehensive range of equipment for the production of both ethanol and biodiesel. Optimized use of energy and recovery of by-products are important criteria for cost-efficient production of biofuels. Alfa Laval’s heat exchangers with their excellent heat recovery as well as efficient separation technology are widely used in this area.
Alfa Laval offers solutions for most processes in the distilling industry including the production of fuel ethanol.
The solutions comprise:
- compact condensers and evaporators
- column reboilers
- mash heaters and fermenter coolers
- stillage decanters
- yeast separators
Reboilers and condensers are needed at both ends of the distillation column. Decanters and evaporators are used to process the stillage into animal feed – distillers’ dried grains - which is a valuable by-product. Separators are used to recycle the yeast, which would otherwise be wasted.
Biodiesel, derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, is a renewable fuel that is rapidly gaining ground. Alfa Laval supplies heating, separation, and mixing technologies adapted for the different biodiesel production steps.
The pre-treatment process removes impurities from the vegetable oil feedstock. Our high-speed separators, mixers, and heat exchangers are used in this process.
In the transesterification phase, the heart of the biodiesel process, our separators provide efficient separation of glycerine from biodiesel. We also supply heat transfer and mixing equipment for this process.
In the washing and drying phase Alfa Laval’s heat exchangers offer space-saving solutions for evaporating methanol and/or water. Our high-speed separators ensure efficient water removal and decanter centrifuges for dewatering have the capacity to handle high solid concentrates.