In its effort to become a net-zero emissions producer, Kansas-based Western Plains Energy has upgraded their bioethanol facility with a fully integrated Whitefox® membrane solution.

According to Whitefox, this is the first installation in the United States of the new ICE® XL membrane solution, which will enable Western Plains to achieve 50% reduction in natural gas and steam, 25% increase in production capacity, and reduction in operational costs. Together, this allows Western Plains to reduce their carbon intensity score by more than ten percent.

Western Plains CEO Derek Peine said, “The Whitefox ICE® XL system is a fully integrated solution within our distillation, dehydration and evaporation (DD&E) unit operations. It fully replaces the molecular sieves, with a proprietary membrane system, providing continuous processing and reduced energy and water consumption. It is designed to allow us to reduce our steam usage by up to 50%, which is a big step towards our net zero carbon goal.”