Alcohol Plants

Cutting edge technology for alcohol production plants.

Technology for Alcohol Production

Alcohol, also referred to as ethanol or ethyl alcohol, is a valuable base material for varied industries and is used as a solvent for many substances. Besides alcoholic beverages, it has applications in chemicals, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and is also used as a transport fuel additive.

On this page you can find out how ethanol is produced and how Vogelbusch can contribute to setting up an alcohol plant.

How is alcohol made?

By fermentation using yeast, alcohol is obtained from various agricultural materials that contain sugar, starch or cellulose. In additional process steps it is refined and concentrated to obtain the highest and purest possible quality.

Alcohol know-how and technology

Vogelbusch has introduced many ground-breaking improvements in alcohol plant design and offers first class, worldwide proven technology for every stage of alcohol production: from raw material preparation and fermentation through to subsequent separation by distillation, rectification and dehydration as well as by-product treatment and auxiliary installations.

We design complete greenfield installations and are also available to upgrade or revamp your existing plant to increase capacity, improve yield and/or product quality and save energy and water.

Your benefits at a glance
  • Highly specialized custom solutions
  • Expert for system integration of production units
  • Cost-effective, energy saving features throughout the plant
  • Surplus energy adds to power export generated from CHP
  • Experienced process provider for EPC project execution
Product types

Depending on the end use, ethanol quality grades differ in purity and concentration

Organoleptic and purity demands

Neutral alcohol needs to comply with most comprehensive analytical requirements of national standards, pharmacopeia or producer specifications ...

Neutral Alcohol Plants
Practically free of water

Bioethanol - also called fuel ethanol - requires an ethanol concentration of up to 99.5 % and in many countries is subject to regulations for sustainable production ...

Bioethanol Plants

Ethanol production facilities designed by Vogelbusch

Revamp of bioethanol plant in Vrdy
ETHANOL ENERGY - Vrdy, Czech Republic

Following conceptual design studies for the reduction of the energy demand - and therefore CO2 emissions - Czech bioethanol producer Ethanol Energy assigned Vogelbusch with the basic design of the process optimization. Production in the reconstructed plant was launched in the fourth quarter in 2018.  

Bioethanol Plant in Jilin
JILIN FUEL ALCOHOL COMPANY - Jilin Province, PR China

Located in Jilin City in Northeast China, this production line for bioethanol was officially commissioned in November 2003 after an implementation period of 22 months. The plant produces 300,000 tons of fuel alcohol annually from maize. The product is used as a 10 % petrol additive.  Process design by Vogelbusch provided...

Neutral Alcohol Plant in Harbin
HARBIN WINERY - Harbin District, PR China

The fine alcohol plant of Harbin Winery, a Chinese producer of potable alcohol from corn, was upgraded by Vogelbusch in several steps. The client required specifically high alcohol quality in terms of organoleptic and analytical criteria and in particular with regard to methanol separation. The facility was designed to set...

Neutral Alcohol Plant in Ahwaz
RAZI YEAST & ALCOHOL COMPANY - Ahwaz, Iran

The plant now operated by Razi (formerly Sugar Cane By-Products Corporation) was designed for a daily capacity of 110,000 liters of high quality pharmaceutical alcohol from cane molasses complying with EU standards. A special challenge was designing the plant for the extreme climatic conditions (0°C to 50°C) and the highest...

Bioethanol Plant in Mount Vernon
GREEN PLAINS (Abengoa) - Mount Vernon, Indiana, USA

Abengoa Bioenergy reached sustained capacity at their 88 million gallons per year (950,000 liters per day), state-of-the-art fuel ethanol facility located in Mt. Vernon, Indiana in January 2010 after 18 month engineering/construction time. This is the second Abengoa Bioenergy plant in the U.S. that utilizes technology licensed by VOGELBUSCH USA Inc.,...

Distillation|Dehydration in Norrköping
LANTMÄNNEN AGROETANOL - Norrköping, Sweden

The bioethanol plant of Lantmännen Agroetanol AB utilises process technology licensed by Vogelbusch for distillation and dehydration. The proprietary MultiPressure system considerably reduces the steam consumption compared to traditional distillation systems and optimum thermal integration further improves the energy-saving properties of the plant.   The facility, which is Agroetanol’s second production...

Bioethanol Plant in Pekin
ALTO INGREDIENTS (Pacific Ethanol) - Pekin, Illinois, USA

In March 2004 the molecular sieve unit at the Aventine Renewable Energy plant was brought on stream. With a rated capacity of 1.2 million liters per day (110 mm gallons per year) anhydrous alcohol, at that time the largest capacity molecular sieve alcohol dehydration unit in the world. The molecular sieve...

Alcohol Plant in Alejandro Roca
PROMAÍZ - Alejandro Roca, Cordoba, Argentina

The Promaíz plant produces bioethanol from corn which is used as fuel additive in the local markets. Besides the technology package for the complete plant and detailed planning of piping and vessels, Vogelbusch has been assigned with the supply of equipment such as fermenter internals, distillation columns, molecular sieve dehydration and...

Ethanol dehydration in Sarpsborg
BORREGAARD - Sarpsborg, Norway

Borregaard replaced a decades old ethanol dehydration system by a state-of-the-art molecular sieve unit from Vogelbusch. The limited space in the biorefinery recommended a skid construction with minimum footprint. A special feature of the installation is an unusually wide capacity span, which was realized in a fully automated process. The unit has...

Bioethanol Plant in Ravenna
KAAPA ETHANOL (Abengoa) - Ravenna, Nebraska, USA

Abengoa Bioenergy successfully started up their state-of-the-art fuel ethanol facility located in Ravenna, Nebraska in September 2007. The plant utilizes technology licensed by VOGELBUSCH USA Inc., including the Vogelbusch MultiCont© continuous fermentation process, and has a nameplate capacity of 88 million gallons per year (950,000 liters per day). The facility...

Services

We license our alcohol technology and provide engineering services from initial process design through to the start-up of the plant:

Relevant processes

From the feedstock to the final product we offer all process steps for the production of alcohol: 

Project Development

ProductIdea1
How to turn your idea into a modern industrial bioprocessing facility

Find some guidance for the development of a manufacturing plant illustrating the steps to be taken from the initial product idea to the operational facility

MINDMAP Project Development
Services offered by Vogelbusch are marked with orange bars.

Questions? Check out our FAQs on the product pages

FAQ Neutral Alcohol Plant

FAQ Bioethanol Plant

Complete our design questionnaire to enable us to give a professional opinion on your project 

QUESTIONNAIRE Neutral Alcohol Plant

QUESTIONNAIRE Bioethanol Plant

Calculation of  bioethanol greenhouse gas emissions in Europe

BIOGRACE is a GHG calculation tool for biofuels in compliance with the emission saving requirments of the European Union

More information on bioethanol

Ethanol Facts - Production, use, sustainability and importance of ethanol as a renewable fuel - provided by ePURE

 

What our clients say...

"The addition of ethanol will allow our Cedar Rapids plant to increase production and improve asset utilization, while providing us with new flexibility to maximize returns from multiple market opportunities."

Tom Malkoski, Penford Products, Bioethanol Plant, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States

News

5 logo alcohol school

The Alcohol School
2023.03.06

April 16 - 21, 2023 | Vienna, Austria

Contact us

VOGELBUSCH Biocommodities GmbH

Blechturmgasse 11
1051 Vienna, Austria

Tel +43 1 54 661-0
Fax +43 1 545 29 79
vienna@vogelbusch.com

VOGELBUSCH USA Inc.

1826 Snake River Road, Suite C
Katy, TX 77449, USA

Tel +1 713 461 7374
Fax +1 713 461 7377
houston@vogelbusch.com
www.vbusa.com

VOGELBUSCH Hong Kong Ltd.

Flat A, 6/F, Beauty Mansion,
69-71 Kimberley Road
Tsimshatsui, Kowloon
Hong Kong, PR China
Tel +852 2314 3030
Fax +852 2314 0369
hongkong@vogelbusch.com