New Company: Managing a Wide Variety of Feedstocks

[Jackie Seaman]

Hi everyone. Myself and a business partner are planning on starting an alcohol fuel company based upon Mr. Blume's book. It will be a community based waste-recycling type process using feedstocks such as produce from the local grocery store and food waste from restaurants. I am a soon-to-be mechanical engineer (graduating in December), so I understand the plant process, but I am curious about feedstock management. We want to use a wide variety of feedstocks, but I am concerned about the inefficiencies associated with managing so many. Mr. Blume makes brief mention of waste products in his book, but so far I have not found anything in depth.

We apologize for the generic nature of this request, but the development of our company is still in its infantile stages and we just want a direction. Any advice, information, or references to experiences in managing alot of feedstocks would greatly help us out. Thank you for your time.

[Erik Weaver]

That looks like the same copper mesh, from what I can tell in the image. Have you ordered from these folks Bill? Do you know how wide that is? I only saw a length description, not the full dimensions listed.

I'd certainly be willing to order some to try if someone has already done business with them. I'm slowly getting around to ordering supplies to make a few stills anyway, and I'll need to get some by-and-by.

Thanks for pointing them out!

[Mark Smith]

Have you thought what you are going to do once your feedstock suppliers start charging you for the waste? Personally, I am thinking about forming a cooperative with the suppliers as members and trying to have a 1 to 1 relationship between the batches and a particular feedstock. In this manner you can credit each member with the amount of ethanol from their feedstock. Then split the sales of ethanol on first in, first out basis. Fear and Greed are the two emotions that business runs on by and large.

[Jackie Seaman]

You have an excellent point which we have considered. Actually we're working on forming co-ops with individual businesses as members who receive fuel for their work vehicles, etc. We're working with the city's economic development corporation to contact these businesses and talk about their interests on an individual basis. This information will be used to size the plant volume, co-products, etc. It is still in the early stages but our goal is for each business to see a real benefit from being a fuel co-op member.

[Erik Weaver]

Your "wastes" should be an improved food stock, assuming the starting food stock had any feed value to begin with, and it is being fed to cows or other critters unable to digest starch. If neither of those is true the situation changes somewhat.

But "distillers grains" -- our left-overs in other words -- are very good food stock for cows who cannot digest starch. If you price DDG or WDG (that's dried or wet distillers grains) you should find they cost more. They do here in Missouri when I checked.

My suggestion is to use a starchy food stock fed to cows (or similar creatures) and then your "waste" product is actually an improved food stock, worth more --pound for pound-- than the original grain (such as corn).

[Rick Ralston]

I really like the idea and I'm also working in a similar direction. It sounds like you are in a smaller community so you might not run into the same issue that I have with larger “Chain” grocery stores. I am not dealing with owners but middle managers and legal concerns about how “waste products” will be used and any liability issues the stores are exposed to. Even when a manager is willing to take a chance and allow something “outside the box”, the decision can be over-ruled or questioned by his or her supervisor. Every obstacle is really an opportunity to practice creative problem solving.

[Rick Ralston]

Mark, you raise a good point. My son has been processing waste cooking oil to bio-diesel for close to a year now and one of his first sources for oil was a local donut shop. The owner was charging my son for the oil (come to find out because my son pretty-much volunteered to pay) until other “free” sources replaced him as a source. Every case will likely be different, calling for a simple reminder like “who else will remove your waste?” to the far more ethical appeal you suggest or maybe some positive press for helping get off foreign oil or for supporting local business would work. Again every case will be different and should be considered as an opportunity to “teach, organize and win” (David Blume).
Most negotiations favor the party that is the most knowledgeable, that is any discussion about paying for feed stock (not totally out of the question) should include the value to both parties. If it takes 1 ton of “waste” donuts to yield 100 gal of Ethanol after adding time (labor), enzymes, yeast, cost to maintain equipment, what is the end value of what is made with 1 ton of “waste” donuts? Alternatively, how will the donuts be handled if you don’t take them? Will they make money or cost the shop money? I don’t mean to suggest that as an ethanol producer I’m the only one that can profit from repurposing “waste” it may well be fair and reasonable to pay for feed stock, but all these things need to be considered when determining a price.
And yes I guess I need to be sure I have all this in mind before I go after this shops donuts for my uses.