Jamaica Biofuels Report - Ministry of Energy

3. Human and Institutional Resources and Roles3.1 Ethanol IndustrySince Jamaican cane ethanol capacity will be built on top of the existing (or an expanded)sugarcane infrastructure, a significant amount of agriculture and cane processing skills alreadyexists in the country’s sugar industry. The additional skills that will be required at theengineering and operating levels are related to the ethanol production portion of the process:(1) Fermentation and (2) Distillation. Both processes are off-the-shelf and hence wellestablished and delivered as turn-key operations with adequate training available from themanufacturers.Experience in industrial microbiology will be needed to operate and maintain the fermentationunits of sugar and/or molasses to ethanol. It will be essential for the plant to have amicrobiologist or chemical engineer with experience in a fermentation setting, such as beer,wine or spirits production in Jamaica or other countries. Yeast is the fermentative organismemployed in ethanol production; hence, the microbiologist/engineer should understandthoroughly the field of yeast metabolism, inoculation, cultivation, harvesting, andcontamination control.Equally important is expertise in the operation and maintenance of distillation units consistingof distillation columns and molecular sieves. Ethanol produced during fermentation is dilute,usually 5-10% in water. As a result, distillation is necessary to remove large quantities of waterand concentrate ethanol to 95.6% by weight, which is hydrous ethanol. The final step forproduction of anhydrous ethanol, which is the only appropriate form for blending with gasoline,requires the use of molecular sieves. Personnel with such skills can be recruited from otherindustries that employ distillation processes, such as Jamaica’s three dehydration facilities orforeign cane or corn ethanol plants.Power cogeneration and the necessary human skills are essential to the long-term success ofthe cane ethanol industry, as the Brazilian experience has demonstrated. Bagasse, whichconstitutes approximately 13% of the raw cane mass, is an excellent fuel for power generation.Power generation from bagasse is practiced extensively in Brazil and South Florida using low- orhigh-pressure boiler systems to satisfy almost entirely the power and steam needed for sugarextraction and refining. Excess electricity is exported to the grid. As emphasized throughoutthis report, cogeneration is essential to the long-term financial viability of the cane ethanolindustry.Cane trash, available in roughly equal amounts as bagasse, is an additional fuel, but it iscurrently left in the fields. As foreign sugar mills are evaluating the use of cane trash, Jamaicacan benefit from future developments in this area.25