If you ask most ethanol producers what their biggest costs are, number one would be the cost of their feedstock, and secondly it would be the cost of energy to run their plant.
These energy costs are no small thing. For example, a single 300 hp hammermill operating at 7,500 hours per year might easily rack up a power bill of over $150,000 (€140,000). This is why the engineers and product designers at CPM have been working on innovative and cost-effective solutions to help customers reduce those overheads.
A step grinding overview
Step grinding is just what it sounds like – reducing the size of the feedstock in multiple steps, instead of all at once. In ethanol production, this typically means grinding corn in two or three steps, instead of in a single pass through a hammermill.
Why? There are several benefits to step grinding corn including improved control of particle size reduction, reduced heating and shrink, a reduction in total maintenance costs and greater versatility.
However, the benefit that customers are the most motivated by are the cost savings that come with improved energy efficiency.
Step...
Grinding away costs
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