September 5, 2018
Press Release
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) and Aemetis, Inc. announced last week that Aemetis will be implementing MCC’s ZEBREXTM technology at its ethanol plant in Keyes, California. As MCC’s marketing and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner in the US, ICM will design and fabricate the unit for Aemetis.
While the ZEBREXTM system has been successfully implemented and utilized at over 70 plants globally in the past decade, Aemetis will be the first North American plant to install the system. This will also be the largest implementation of the ZEBREXTM technology worldwide. The installation capacity will be 200,000 GPD/70 MM GPY of dehydration production.
ZEBREXTM technology improves production capacity and reduces energy costs through the use of state-of-the-art zeolite membrane dehydration technology. Ethanol and water are separated by the precise selectivity of the zeolite to produce 99.8 percent purity ethanol and recycle water in a single pass.
“We are excited to be working with both MCC and Aemetis on this first installation in the US,” said Steve Hartig, VP of Technology at ICM. “MCC’s knowledge of membrane technology, along with their large-scale production of the membrane units, fits perfectly with ICM’s knowledge of the ethanol industry, ability to seamlessly integrate this technology into existing plants, local fabrication of the modules in our Kansas manufacturing shop and then ultimately performing the EPC and supporting start up at the plants”.
“This system provides ethanol plants with a more efficient method for separating water from ethanol,” Hartig continued. “The plants that have implemented the ZEBREXTM technology have reported reduced energy costs and increased production capacity of 15-25 percent compared with traditional methods.”
ICM announced its collaboration with MCC earlier this year.
About ICM, Inc.
Established in 1995 and headquartered in Colwich, Kan., with a regional office in Brazil, ICM provides innovative technologies, solutions, and services to sustain agriculture and to advance renewable energy, including ethanol and feed technologies that will increase the supply of world protein. By providing proprietary process technologies to over 100 facilities globally with a combined annual production of approximately 8.8 billion gallons of ethanol and 25 million tons of distiller grains, ICM has become a world leader in bio-refining technologies. For additional information, please visit www.icminc.com.
About Aemetis, Inc.
Headquartered in Cupertino, Cal., Aemetis is an advanced renewable fuels and biochemicals company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative technologies that replace traditional petroleum-based products by the conversion of ethanol and biodiesel plants into advanced biorefineries. For additional information, please visit www.aemetis.com.
About Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Established in 2017 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation is Japan’s largest chemical company and offers a wide variety of products and solutions in the business domains of performance products and industrial materials. For additional information, visit www.m-chemical.co.jp/en/.
Read the original article: ICM, Inc. To Design and Fabricate ZEBREX System for Aemetis, Inc