thursday, September 25, 1975
page 6
daily nebraskan
asohol venture; an
' V VA
y . N . V" - ' If I ' i
alfern ate en ergy so u rce
By Stan Unhorst
The success of a consumer test sale of
gasoholat a Holdrege, Neb. filling station
has made the administrator of the project
optimistic about gasohol's future as a fuel.
Charles Fricke, administrator of Ne
braska's Agriculture Products Industrial
Utilization Committee, said he is optimistic
about the future of gasohol because "if we
are patient long enough, more opportuni
ties arise for the chances of its develop
ment in the market place." 1
Citing diminishing energy supplies,
Fricke said it is necessary to develop alter
nate energy sources, including gasohol.
Gasohol is a mixture of unleaded gaso
line and grain alcohol.
Besides using gasohol as a possible
answer to the energy problem, William
Scheller, chairman of the UNL Chemical
Engineering Dept., said byproducts of the
production of gasohol may help combat
the world's food shortage.
"If we take grain and make alcohol and
extract protein for human consumption
from distiller's byproducts and feed the
residual byproducts to cattle, we wind up
with 40 per cent more protein than if we
had fed the whole grain directly to the
cattle," he said.
Protein shortage
Scheller called the world food shortage
a misnomer because it is actually a protein
shortage.
"We have the potential here for helping
relieve the protein shortage as well as yield
ing alcohol for use as a fuel additive or
chemical raw material," he said.
A UNL study completed in July and fi
nanced by a $125,000 National Science
Foundation grant, stated that it would be
possible and profitable to extract protein
suitable for human consumption from the
byproducts of the distilling process.
James Kendrick, professor of agricultur
al economics and head of the study, said
research showed that it is possible to ex
tract protein from distiller's byproducts
with a dry weight of 80 to 90 per cent and
suitable for human consumption.
Byproducts valued
Kendrick said thejflndings "will enhance
the economic value of distiller's byprod
ucts and will make production of alcohol
more profitable."
The production of alcohol from grain
only involves the carbohydrates of the
grain, he said, and 'doesn't bother the
prptein at all."
According to the report issued by the
researchers, the protein extract "can be
used in the fortification of cereal-base
snacks, cookies and bread," and as a binder
and extender in emulsified meat products.
Kendrick said this could be compared
with current uses of soybean protein.
Gasohol road test
. The results of th Holdrege test, the
protein extract research, and a gasohol
two-miilion-mile road test to be completed
next summer, "created a tremendous
amount of interest around the nation,"
Fricke said. .
-'The Holdrege project has been the
single most important factor 'in making,
people across the country aware that agri
cultural products are important for future
energy needs," Fricke said.
Scheller, technical coordinator of the
Agricultural Products Industrial Utiliza
tion Committee, said the Holdrege test
originally was planned to last until 20,000
gallons of gasohol had been marketed, or
for one year, whichever came first.
"We thought the 20,000 gallons might
last a year," he said, but it was received by
consumers much better than expected. The
first 20,000 gallons were sold in 16 days,
he said.
Sales underestimated
By Aug. 19, when the project was dis
continued, 93,000 gallons of gasohol had
been sold at the Holdrege station.
A gallon of gasohol consists of 10 per
cent alcohol and 90 per cent unleaded
gasoline, Scheller said.
The alcohol for the consumer test and
at Holdrege and the two-million-mile road
test being conducted with 45 State Depart
ment of Roads cars was purchased from
Georgia-Pacific Corp. in Billingham, Wash.,
Scheller said.
The alcohol was shipped to a Coopera
tive Refiners Assoc. refinery in Phillips
burg, Kan. where it was mixed with the
gasoline and then sent to Holdrege. Farm
land Industries owns the Cooperative
Refiners Association.
Scheller said no modifications were re
quired in the Phillipsburg plant to produce
the mixture.
Prices comparable
Including shipping charges, the alcohol
cost about 90 cents per gallon, he said, and
after mixing with gasoline, the gasohol sold
for the same price as unleaded gasoline.
However, this price included a three
cent state gasoline tax reduction on the
price of each gallon, he said. The tax is
normally 8 and one-half cents per gallon.
The tax break for gasohol and the crea
tion of the Agriculture Products Utiliza
tion Committee to research and promote
gasohol were authorized by LB776 and
LB1208 passed by the Legislature in 1971
and 1972, respectively.
The bills allowed a three cent reduction
of the gasoline tax on the first 10 million
gallons of gasohol sold in the state.
The committee comprises four farmers,
two businessmen and one oil industry
representative. The seven were appointed
by Gov. J. James Exon.
Proximity important
Fricke said the Holdrege Co-op station
was chosen for the test because of its
affiliation with Farmland Industries, its
closeness to the Phillipsburg plant (43
miles) and the area's interest in gasohol.
Fricke, with the help of the Nebraska
A HP,rtMiWiWWWW mm
William
UNL's
Dept.
Scheller,
Chemical
Photo by Liz Bard
chairman -of
Engineering
Department of Economic Development,
now is compiling statistics on the Holdrege
customers' attitudes on gasohol use and its
performance and development, he said.
Two Holdrege high school students were
hired to record information about gasohol
customers during the test.
The information was used to send
questionnaires early in September to the
customers to record people's reaction
after using gasohol. About 600 of the
1,425 questionnaires sent out have been
returned, Fricke said.
Test provides data
The two-million-mile road test began
Dec. 23, 1974, Fricke said, and is designed
to gather data on fuel consumption, per
formance, composition of exhaust
emissions, and engine cylinder wear.
"In the first quarter of the test we
found that the gasohol cars were using five
per cent less fuel than cars running on un
leaded gasoline," he said.
Scheller said that detailed examination
of the valves and valve seats of the gasohol
cars used in the road test indicated deposits
were reduced, which results in "reduced
maintenance."
Data . also indicates that gasohol
produced less exhaust pollution, he said.
"We're trying to get the word out about
the opportunity that exists," Scheller said.
Including protein recovery, an "alcohol
plant looks as if it would be profitable,'' he
said. Plant operation would require 25,000
to 30,000 bushels of a grain per day.
$30 million investment
There has been an interest shown in
building a grain alcohol plant, Scheller said,
"but we're talking about an investment of
$30 million."
Fricke said his committee will ssk
potential plant builders if any more
research needs to be done.
"All our projects are directed to getting
an alcohol plant in Nebraska," he said,
which must be done to satisfy "an
investor's curiosity and investment
requirements.
"We're trying to establish the credibility
of gasohol, he said. "I feel we've done
that this summer."
Fricke said the committee will be con
sidering options to provide further incen
tives for private industry to build a Drain
alcohol plant In the state. He said" this
includes Congress, federal agencies and the
Legislature.
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- Pttota by Kavin Hfctoy
Charles Fricke, Nebraska
Agricultural Products Industrial
Utilization Committee admin
istrator. "I hate to make predictions," he said,
"but I think we should definitely come up
with something (an alcohol plant) by
1980."
"We're faced with the reality of dimin
ishing energy supplies," he said, "and
sooner or later people will have to realize
we need to take advantage of alternate
sources of energy, Including gasohol.""'
Bill Hoppner, administrative assistant to
Exon, said the governor has stressed the
importance that grain and grain alcohol can
play in the energy problem.
He said Exon's goal is "trying to get an
alcohol plant in Nebraska on a continual
large scale basis." "
Exon has met with governors and agri
culture industry representatives to promote
gasohol, Hoppner said.
There are economic problems involved
with the development of gasohol, such as
insuring an adequate grain supply and get
ting the food value out of the grain, he
said. Gasohol has been criticized by some
as using food to make fuel when there
are many starving people throughout the
world.
Exon critical
Exon has criticized the Ford administra
tion, Hoppner said, for not creating a
system to ensure an adequate supply of
graia.
He said Exon has urged the establish
ment of a federal Jboard to regulate supply
and production of raw agricultural
products as "the Federal Reserve Board
regulates money."
According to Schelhr, the problems
outlined by Hoppner are not serious
enough to hamper development of the
grain alcohol industry.
"From my technical position and under
standing of alcohol and protein processes,"
he said, "I feel the concerns about supply
and nutritional aspects of the governor's
office are not justified.
Spoiled grain used
"One of the big factors here is that we
can use spoiled grain," he said.
Since an alcohol plant would be able to
use poor quality or spoiled grain and
probably still extract usable protein,
Scheller said, food supply actually would
b lrtrd. . . .
He said, the Nebraska Department of
Agriculture has estimated that there is
enough spoiled grain in Nebraska alone
to "feed" an alcohol plant.
Besides Nebraska's research with
alcohol, which Fricke termed "the best in
the nation," Scheller said there are several
other gfoups studying grain alcohol and its
possible use with gasoline.
' ' Volkswagen-joins research
He said he has visited with Volkswagen
officials who are conducting research in
Woifsburg, Germany patterned after
Nebraska's road test. Ha also has been
contacted by a Swedish corporation plan
ning a road test using methyl alcohol.
Scheller said he has heard that General
Motors Corp. is doing research on gasohol
and that tests are planned with methyl
alcohol at the University of California at
Santa Clara.
Scheller said he will present a paper
8 to the National Wheat Utilization
Research Conference if Seattle, on the
commercial design end process economic
for the extraction of protein frm
distiller's byproducts.
