ASS—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 2,1981
Here are consumer tips for alcohol still buyers
WASHINGTON, D.C. - It can be
a matter of life or death. A faulty
alcohol still can kill a person in
different ways, not the least of
which is an explosion.
That’s one of several reasons
why a fanner or cooperative
setting up an ethanol distillation
plant should require the contractor
or manufacturer to put up a per
formance bond and sign an
agreement guaranteeing the buyer
against loss because of defects m
design, equipment, materials or
construction.
Buyers also should have tangible
evidence a plant will work such
as watching it produce ethanol
over a two-day cycle.
This advice comes from U.S.
Department of Agriculture of
ficials who point to news reports on
fast-buck energy ‘artists’ trying to
sell stills that have never teen
tested and may not produce fuel
ethanol.
USDA asks fanners 9
cooperation
to control PRY
NEW YORK, N.Y. - U.S.
Department of Agriculture
veterinary officials are urging
producers to help halt the spread of
pseudorabies by properly
disposing of animals that have died
from the disease.
Pseudorabies is a herpes virus
disease of swine that also affects
cattle, dogs, cats and some wild
animals such as skunks and rac
coons. In swine, death rates
decrease from almost 100 percent
in newborn pigs to just a few
deaths in older hogs. In other
species, the disease is most often
fatal and is one of the cruelest
deaths an animal can suffer.
“An increasing number of states
reporting confirmed cases of
pseudorabies in swine are also
reporting increases in the number
of cattle deaths due to the
disease,” said James Downard,
senior staff veterinarian for swine
diseases of USDA’s Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service.
APHIS revokes N.J.
produce firm’s license
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Wan
namelon, Inc., Newark, N.J., had
its produce trading license revoked
effective April 8, for failing to pay
promptly for $344,596 worth of
fruits and vegetables the firm
purchased.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing
Service, which licenses produce
firms under the Perishable
Agricultural Commodities Act,
had charged the firm with failing
to pay the full agreed purchase
price for 131 lots of produce pur
chased from July 1979 through
May 1980.
Charles Brader, marketing
official with AMS, said the firm
had the opportunity to answer
USDA’s charges, but failed to
respond.
USDA’s Administrative Law
_Giv©
Eggso
“We expect USDA will be giving
loans for rural production of
alternate fuels by systems of
modest size, cost and design,” said
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
Jim Williams. “We want to help
on-farm producers get into
business but not before they have
carefully studied it and prepared
themselves to overcome potential
problems.
“It can be exciting in the
‘forefront’ of energy science and
technology, and it also can be
frustrating and tune-consuming.
But farmers who take tune to
study and plan carefully are not
wasting tune.”
Instructions issued to state and
county loan officers by USDA’s
Farmers Home Administration on
processing FmHA loans for alcohol
or methane plants give details on
guarantees that should be written
into construction contracts.
“Improper disposal of dead baby
pigs during an outbreak has
caused the death of cattle and dogs
on a number of farms,” Downard
said. “Too often, dead pigs have
been dumped into the manure
spreader and disposed of in the
manure spread on nearby pasture
or cropland.”
Dead animals should be sent to
rendering plants, incinerated or
buried properly. Dogs and wild
animals can dig up a carcass if it is
not buried deep enough, he said.
During 1980, Downard said,
there were 1,217 laboratory con
firmed cases of the disease in 24
states. “However, tissues or serum
from many clinically diagnosed
cases are not submitted for
laboratory confirmation,” he said.
Over 80 percent of the cases
reported in 1980 came from six
states lowa 534, Illinois 131,
Nebraska 127, Missouri 79, Indiana
76 and Minnesota 69.
Judge John G. Liebert ruled that
the firm had committed willful,
repeated and flagrant violations of
the act.
Under Liebert’s order, the firm
may not conduct business subject
to the act until April 8, 1983, and
then only if a PACA license is
obtained. The firm's officer,
director, and major stockholder,
Stuart Guttler, may not be em
ployed by or affiliated with any
PACA licenses until April 8, 1982,
and then only if the employer posts
a surety bond and USDA approves.
Under PACA, all interstate
traders in fresh and frozen fruits
and vegetables must be licensed by
USDA. USDA is authorized to
suspend or revoke a trader’s
license for violating the act.
Samples ot wording for
guarantees are available from
FmHA offices.
FmHA has about $lO million this
fiscal year for direct loans to
farmers or rural groups who can’t
obtain credit elsewhere to set up
ethanol or methane plants. FmHA
also is authorized to guarantee as
much as $lOO million in business
and-mdustry loans to potential
ethanol or methane producers by
sept. 30.
Assistant Secretary of
Agriculture Alex Mercure, whose
duties include supervising FmHA,
said FmHA regulations state that
when a “custom” plant is under
consideration, its design should be
based upon “actual operation
history of existing units.”
“Borrower-constructed projects
must have close guidance and
supervision by a qualified
engineer,” Mercure said. “This
guidance can be provided by a
state university engineer or a
private engineer.
“As for packaged plants, any
performance ce.*tification should
be based upon at least a 60-
consecutive-day test penod in
which all process inputs, outputs
and operating tunes are certified
by an acceptable testing entity or
recognized engineer.”
Mercure said some of these
systems may be designed by
private engineers or engineers
from a land grant university who
do not provide guarantees and
insurance.
“Any absence of bonding and
insurance places more respon
sibility upon FmHA officials and
requires close scrutiny of any
proposed development,” he said.
Weldon Barton, USDA’s Office of
Energy director, said safety
features are crucial. One concern
is flammability. Some people don't
realize that an alcohol flame is
colorless, hence not easily spotted.
Barton said farmers and others
might well treat alcohol as if it
were as dangerous as gasoline and
thereby take adequate measures
against ignition of ethanol leaks,
ethanol fumes or grain dust.
For example, if electric pumps
are used, their motors should be
explosive-proof fully enclosed.
Equipment should be grounded to
prevent static electricity.
At least one recent fatality oc
curred when a still built by a
farmer exploded beside him.
Another fatality resulted when a
plant operator removed a
protective cover from an ob
servation point and breathed in so
much carbon dioxide that he lost
consciousness and fell into a fer
mentation vat and suffocated.
“Vats should not be put in closed
buildings,” Barton said. “Such
buildings should be open at the top
and at one side. No one should
enter fermenting tanks, beer wells
or stillage tanks that are not
adequately vented.”
Two manuals are available with
useful information on safety and
other matters. One is “Small-Scale
Fuel Alcohol Production” stock
number 001-000-0412-0 one
produced under contract with
USDA and available for $6 per
copy from the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
20201.
The other is “Fuel from Farms,
MIIMIMICH SALE
CANCELLED
The sale for Clifford & Joanne Minnich
scheduled for May 7,1981 which appears
on pg. 029 of this issue has been can
celled.
Earl Buffenmeyer, Auctioneer.
A Guide to Small-Scale Ethanol
Production,” available from the
Technical Information Center,
U.S. Department of Energy, P.O.
Box 62, Oak Ridge, Tenn. 37830. It
lists a number of other safety
precautions, such as:
Never smoke or strike matches
around ethanol tanks, dehydration
areas, distillation columns or
condensers.
Never use metal grinders,
uitting torches, welders and
i laied equipment near systems or
equipment containing ethanol.
Flush and vent all vessles before
performing any of these
operations.
Install, regularly maintain and
check safety boiler “pop” valves
set to relieve when pressure ex
ceeds maximum safe pressure of a
boiler or its delivery lines.
Adhere strictly to boiler
manufacturers’ operating
procedures. If a boiler’s pressure
will exceed 20 pounds per square
inch (psi), it should be certified by
the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Maintain continuous operator
attendance during boiler
operation.
To prevent scalding from steam,
place baffles around flanges to
direct any direct steam jets away
from operating areas. Use welded
joints in all steam delivery lines.
Insulate steam delivery lines to
prevent contact bums.
Give special handling to bases
and acids, many of which are
dangerous. For example, con
centrated acids never should be
stored in carbon steel containers.
Note and adhere to other
precautions for such materials.
One potential problem
sometimes overlooked, according
to Don Fink of USDA’s Office of
Energy, is when components from
different technologies are mixed.
They aren’t always compatible. As
an example, he recalled'an
plant bu|lt with valves from a
former dairy to handle movement
of fluids. “They ‘froze’, plugged
solid because some ethanol plant
fluids contain a high percentage of
solids. Valves in alcohol plants
must be able to handle heavy
fluids.”
Also troublesome for a beginner
is the question of how to find plans
for building a trustworthy
distillery plant for a farm or farm
cooperative, Fink said. Because of
wariness about competing with
private industry and about rapidly
changing technology, state and
federal agencies don’t make the
few existing plans available.
Considerable information is
available, however, from the
National Gasohol Commission at
321 S. 14th St., Suite 5, Lincoln,
Neb. 68508; the National Center for
Approprite Technology (NCAT),
P.O. Box 3838, Butte, Mont 59701,
and in major libraries. Loan
formation is available from FmHA'
offices.
Officials of NCAT, funded by the
U.S. Community' Services Ad
ministration a federal agency -
say they hope to have a demon
stration distillery in operation at
Butte by the end of this year. The
gasobol commission has names of
responsible engineers and
manufacturers plus technical
data.
The manual on “Small-Scale
Fuel Alcohol Production” says
four types of insurance are needed
by any producer. Insurance rates ..
vary from company to company
and state to state. For estimation
purposes, it listed the following
rates: General Liability, $500,000
coverage should cost 65 cents per
$lOO payroll; Product liability, $1
per $lOO sales; Workmen’s com
pensation, $4.93 per $lOO payroll;
and Fire and extended
80 centsper $lOO sales.
“WALT' CHISSOM
ESTATE AUCTION
DOZER, EQUIPMENT, SHOP TOOLS,
HORSE DRAWN VEHICLES
SATURDAY, MAY 9
ll:OOA.M.
WALLACE. N.Y.
Sale at the farm located in “Bloomer*
ville”, just off rte. 415 1 mile south of
Wallace or app. 3 miles north of Avoca.
To settle the estate of "Walt" Chissom.
selling without reserve, the following:
EQUIPMENT:
19591. H. TD-9 diesel dozer with 9 % ft. manual
angle blade, rebuilt motor and tracks, ex- |
cellent condition! A.C. WD-45 diesel n.f.e.
tractor; early J.D. “A” n.f.e. tractor (ser.
462402) with steel lug wheels; early J.D. “B”
(ser. 45920) on steel lugs; 1970 Chevy C-50'
truck, 5 sp. with 2 sp. axle, with log bunks; LH.
1959 farm truck with hoist, no body; I.H. 1955 R
-120 pick-up (cracked block); J.D. trailer type
boom log skidder; 2 section harrow; J.D. 15
flail chopper; buzz saw; 1 row potato digger;
quantity of new sawn lumber.
TOOLS;
Delta 10 in. table saw; Delta dnll press;
Walker Turner band saw; 2 chain saws; cant
hook; odd hand tools; 2 belts and belt lacing;
gas cans; cast wood chunk stove; 4 antique “hit
and miss” gasoline engines; 2 accordians;
almost new router; qty. scrap iron; etc.!
HORSE RELATED ITEMS:
Extra nice N.1.14-A manure spreader; gravel
dump wagon; 2 seat surrey; 2 seat cutter; 2 2-
seat buggies; buggy; 2 jogging carts; 2 flat |
land walking plows; side hiU plow; wagon box <
wagon; 2 2-horse cultivators; other horse J
drawn vehicles; parts; harness and parts; j
barrel of white mineral oil; etc.!
A GOOD SALE OF DESIRABLE MER
CHANDISE!
Terms: Cash or good check day of sale. LD.
required. Lunch.
Owned by the
ESTATE OF “WALT” CHISSOM J
Linda C. Herrick, Adm. n
Sale by PIRRUNG AUCTIONEERS. INC.
Wayland, N.Y. 716-728-2520