Florida could make big push to (citrus) ethanol production in '08

Florida could make big push to ethanol production in '08

By TCPalm Staff

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Sparked by an enthusiasm by a new governor and heightened gas prices, 2007 marked a push toward alternative energy sources that could include a citrus-fueled ethanol plant in nearby Hendry County.

Plans remained secret as 2007 drew to a close but FPL Energy, a subsidiary of Juno-based FPL Group, has made no bones about the fact it wants to construct an ethanol production facility somewhere in South Florida.

The top bet has been U.S. Sugar, which operates a sprawling citrus processing plant in Hendry County.

Through its Southern Gardens Citrus subsidiary, U.S. Sugar owns the state's largest citrus processing plant, which would produce 4 million gallons of ethanol annually as an additive for gasoline.

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Florida Start-Up Targets Ethanol from Citrus Waste

23 February 2007

A Florida start-up formed in 2006 plans to commercialize technology developed by the US Department of Agriculture in the 1990s to produce ethanol from citrus waste. (Earlier post.) Citrus waste is rich in pectin, cellulose and hemicellusic polysaccharides, which can be hydrolyzed into sugars and fermented into ethanol.

Citrus Energy is seeking to raise $10 million to build an initial 4 million gallon per year ethanol plant. USDA researchers have estimated that the state has sufficient citrus waste to produce 80 million gallons of ethanol per year.

In addition to ethanol, the process produces limonene and cattle feed. Efficient fermentation requires the reduction of limonene—a terpene-based solvent which is the fruit’s natural defense against bacteria, viruses, and molds—by approximately 90%, according to the company.

For cattle feed, the solids (equivalent to wet distillers’ grains from corn) recovered from the distillation system after ethanol stripping will be delivered to the existing feedmill for drying.

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