Pine Lake Corn Processors was established in 2005 with a capacity of approximately 20 MMGPY. Through actively improving efficiency and plant ethanol output, its currently capacity is over 95 MMGPY. Much of this improvement has been under the leadership of James Broghammer, CEO, and a chemical engineer who has logged over 35 years of process industry experience. Broghammer requested Kinergetics’ innovative design ideas on reducing operation costs starting back in 2018.
The partnership started when CEO James Broghammer, heard of the success of Kinergetics’ Syrup Concentrator at another ethanol plant.
The Syrup Concentrator, designed to reduce stillage dryer loading by utilizing waste heat, can increase plant efficiency by 2,800+ BTU/Gallon. This was an appealing opportunity for an ethanol plant looking to further improve plant efficiency.
Since being inducted as CEO, Brogrammer has made strides to improve plant efficiency and create an environment that not only prioritizes plant goals but also the well being of his employees.
“While steam reduction and CI score are important to me, I could not accept an approach that would unnecessarily complicate operations for my staff or pose a downtime risk in the event of a maintenance shutdown or equipment failure; the heat recovery system had to be efficient, reliable and redundant”
James Broghammer
CEO – Pine Lake Corn Processors
A few years after the Syrup Concentrator installation produced the expected results for Pine Lake, Broghammer once again reached out to owner of Kinergetics, Tom Tucker, looking for ways to reduce boiler process steam.
Knowing that heat pumps alone would not provide a sufficient solution to Broghammer’s needs, Tucker designed the WHIR system. This system uses waste heat and vapor compression and can easily be integrated into Pine Lake’s existing processes, greatly improving plant efficiency.
The WHIR system is expected to be on-line during Q2 2025, and a distillation and slurry steam use reduction of over 80% is expected.