GE's biogas engines to power China's largest ethanol plant

GE will supply its Jenbacher biogas engine technology to power China's largest ethanol production plant under construction in the city of NanYang, in Henan Province, which will help China boost ethanol production while at the same time generating renewable electricity for regional grid.

The technology, which will help reduce carbon emissions by 1.1 million tonnes per year, will support China's efforts to increase the use of biogas for renewable energy production, a GE release said today.

The ethanol production facility, being set up by Henan Tianguan Group, will produce 500,000 cubic meters of biogas per day, based on organic material from cassava plants.

GE is setting up a 36-megawatt (MW) onsite power plant using its Jenbacher engines to support the ethanol plant's operations. Both new facilities are being built adjacent to the company's existing ethanol production facility, which uses a biomass digester system to convert cassava- instead of grain-into ethanol in China.

For the 11-MW first phase of the new onsite power plant, GE is supplying four of its J620-biogas engine units. The gas engines will utilise the ethanol production facility's waste methane biogas to generate renewable electricity, which Henan Tianguan Group plans to sell to the regional grid.

GE's biogas engines also will use methane gas created by the anaerobic digestion of cassava biomass to produce renewable electricity for the site.