Ethanol Industry Embraces Tuning Technologies to Drive Growth

July 28, 2009 - PRLog -- Glacial Lakes Energy, LLC has licensed Control Station’s award-winning and patent-pending LOOP-PRO Product Suite to assist with improvements to production quality and output.  Glacial Lakes Energy is a leading manufacturer of starch-based ethanol, generating over 250 million gallons per year at the cooperative’s production facilities.  The successful application of LOOP-PRO comes at a time when increased global attention has been directed towards the ethanol industry and advancement of alternative fuels.

Glacial Lakes Energy is a member of the Glacial Lakes Corn Processors cooperative that formed in 2002 to build and operate ethanol production facilities in South Dakota.  With three production facilities located in South Dakota, Glacial Lakes Energy’s output contributed to the tripling in domestic ethanol output from 2000 to 2007. Glacial Lakes Energy supplies starch-based ethanol, leveraging the cooperative’s close proximity to abundant corn and other starches that are suitable for ethanol production.

“We are always looking for ways to improve business-critical production processes as a means of maintaining a competitive advantage”, commented David Culver, Director of Operations at Glacial Lake Energy’s Watertown Plant. “LOOP-PRO quickly enhanced the performance of several critical control loops.  Benefits included a combination of tighter production quality and increased throughput – both essential to meeting our production goals”.

The United States Congress enacted legislation that imposes dramatic increases in ethanol production through 2030.  44.8 billion gallons per year or 30% of projected domestic demand for gasoline will be based on ethanol.  12.8 billion gallons of the 2030 production target will be met by a combination of starch- and sugar–based ethanol.  The balance of the 2030 production target will be met by cellulosic ethanol.  The legislation is a key component in the nation’s alternative fuel strategy.  Planned expansion in ethanol production comes at a time when the international supply of carbon-based fuels has been increasingly volatile.

“We’re thrilled to introduce our technologies to the alternative fuels market and to support ethanol manufacturers like Glacial Lakes Energy”, stated Dennis Nash, Control Station’s President.  “LOOP-PRO’s ease-of-use and unique modeling capabilities have made it the new gold standard for PID diagnostic and optimization software.  LOOP-PRO will become an increasingly important factor in ethanol production as the industry shifts its sights toward meeting the production objectives through 2030.”

LOOP-PRO is used by leading manufacturers across the process industries to improve process performance and overall plant profitability.  With the recent introduction of Control Station’s patent-pending NSS Modeling Innovation, LOOP-PRO stands alone among PID diagnostic and optimization technologies.  No other software product on the market has the ability to accurately model non-steady state process data.  Control Station’s software technologies are also distributed by Yokogawa Corporation of America and other leading automation solutions companies.

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About Control Station
Control Station, Inc is a leading provider of process control solutions, including award-winning and easy-to-use software technologies, practical training and skills development services, and onsite optimization services. The Company's LOOP-PRO Product Suite has received Chemical Processing Magazine’s Vaaler Award and Control Engineering Magazine’s Engineers’ Choice Award for ease-of-use and innovation. Control Station’s process control solutions are utilized by leading companies across the process industries.