MILTON, WISCONSIN, U.S. — United Ethanol LLC has increased its capacity by 15% with the addition of a modular bolt-on system from Whitefox Technologies that frees up capacity in the distillation-dehydration section.

The ethanol plant was able to increase its overall production capacity to more than 60 million gallons per year and there is the capability for a 5% further increase.

This was Whitefox’s second installation in Wisconsin and its fourth of the system in the United States. Whitefox’s Integrated Cartridge Efficiency (Whitefox ICE) is a membrane-based dehydration technology with a small footprint. It helps reduce operation and maintenance costs by simplifying production and improving carbon intensity (CI) scores by reducing energy and water consumption in ethanol and organic chemical manufacturing processes.

“We are always looking to improve our efficiencies, reduce costs and deliver a positive impact to our local communities,” said Chad Campbell, chief operating officer of United Ethanol. “The Whitefox ICE solution has helped United Ethanol attain its goals of being a low-cost producer of fuel ethanol. With the removal of bottlenecks, we have increased our throughput and at the same time made our plant more efficient and easier to operate. We also look forward to seeing the positive impact Whitefox ICE should have on the reduction in the cooling water load during the summer months.”

Gillian Harrison, chief executive officer of Whitefox, said the company was glad to contribute to the ethanol plant’s expansion goals and reduce its steam, cooling water and emissions.

United Ethanol began operations in March 2007 and converts approximately 45,000 bushels of corn per day and currently produces about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year of undenatured ethanol.

In addition, United Ethanol produces dry distiller’s grain and modified distiller’s grain, co-products of ethanol production. They also recover CO2 through a liquefaction plant and sell it for use in the food processing, beverage, oil recovery, municipal water treatment and chemical industries. Corn oil from United Ethanol is used in biodiesel production.

Established in 2000, Whitefox specializes in technology development and process integration based on its proprietary membrane solutions.