An American researcher thinks he has found a way to turn distillers grains into a valuable byproduct.
Steven Vaughn, plant physiologist with the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has discovered the ethanol byproduct makes a good organic fertilizer.
It has the right combination of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to nurture high-value crops like fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and turf grass.
“The turf applications are just killer,” said Vaughn.
In addition to offering growers a natural, slow releasing fertilizer that doesn’t contaminate ground water, the dried distillers grain with solubles or product known as DDGs, has added weed killing ability.
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Vaughn said the product has the potential to compete with other organic soil amendments like cotton seed meal, which would provide ethanol plants with an estimated 20 times the value they can get selling DDGS for animal feed.
One potential stumbling block is the smell of the stuff.
“When you go into where they store the dried distillers grain, it’s intense. It’s almost sickening,” said Vaughn.
That could be a serious drawback for a product that would be spread on golf courses, lawns and gardens.
“You don’t want it to be nasty smelling.”
But the researcher has discovered the smell disappears if the DDGS is first subjected to an oil extracting process. A side benefit is that the resulting scent-free product has a higher concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, making it a more effective fertilizer.
Vaughn is working with scientists at Southern Illinois University to determine if there is an economical way to extract the oil and turn it into its own high-value byproduct.
One idea is to use it to produce biodiesel. DDGS is about 11 percent oil by weight, so one tonne of DDGS yields 100 kilograms of oil, enough to produce about 30 gallons of biodiesel.
If there is no cost effective way to extract the oil the whole project will be short-lived, but if there is, he thinks it could have a tremendous impact on the bottom line of the country’s ethanol plants.
Vaughn has never seen wheat based DDGS, which is produced in western Canadian facilities.
He predicted it, too, would make a good organic fertilizer but wonders if there would be a smell issue associated with the product and how to get rid of it if there is.
He said he would be willing to take a look at the product if there is any interest from Canada.
