aug 2015 ethanol producer magazine operations leader
TRANSCRIPT
www.ethanolproducer.com
AUGUST 2015
INSIDE: CORN VARIETY INCREASES PLANT EFFCIENCY
Page 42
STAR OPERATOREnergy Systems ChiefShines in Minnesota
Page 36
TechnologiesTweak Dehydration,
Transform Distillation
Page 30
Digging into the Details ofSuccessful Product Trials
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KEEPING BUSY: Robert Jewell says there's no shortage of things to do in his career at Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co. For example, he does a lot of work on the facility’s water permits. PHOTOS: LANE OLSON
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When Ethanol Producer Magazine asked for nominations of rock star operators, the name of an industry veteran of almost two decades rose to the top. By Holly Jessen
PROFILE
Robert Jewell, energy systems chief at Chippewa Val-ley Ethanol Co. has worked at the Benson, Minnesota, ethanol plant for about 13 years. He also worked at a nearby ethanol plant in Morris, Minnesota, which today goes by the name DENCO II, bringing his total time working in the ethanol industry to just short of 18 years.
He has worked primarily in utility or energy centers, although, he has also operated distillation and evaporators as well as cook and fermentation lines. Currently, Jewell supervises four full-time energy system operators, as well training and cross-training employees in energy system operations.
Prior to his career within the ethanol industry, Jewell worked as a facility manager of a company that manufactured flexible circuit interconnect solu-tions used in the computer, networking, communication, storage, consumer, medical, and electronic industries. He also worked as a foreman at a wastewa-ter treatment plant and a maintenance technician.
Jewel provided EPM with information about some of the projects he has managed, past and present. Currently, Jewell and the CVEC team are working toward installation of a new high-efficiency boiler, expected to come online later this year. Specifically, it’s a 2,500 horsepower, 3 pass, 86,250-pound-per-hour water back, fire tube steam boiler. The project was initiated after the
Operations LeaderOptimizes Aging Plant
44 | Ethanol Producer Magazine | AUGUST 2015
FULL STEAM AHEAD: Jewell, standing at right, supervises employees working as energy system operators at CVEC.
PROFILE
company installed a regenerative thermal oxidizer and repurposed the old thermal oxidizer as a waste heat boiler, he says. However, due to inefficiency, it was later repurposed into a steam generator, leading to the soon-coming instillation of the new boiler. “This project will provide improved system reliability and improved energy ef-ficiency,” he says.
He has also worked to identify and implement numerous other steam plant op-timization measures. One benefit the com-pany has been able to reduce boiler makeup water use by 74 percent. Specifically, in a year, CVEC is able to use about 1.7 million gallons less reverse osmosis (RO) water and about 3.6 million gallons of soft water feed to the RO. This saved the company about $15,000 in a year, by reducing natural gas use. Additional benefits include savings due to lowered chemical use as well as less wastewater discharge.
Also on his radar was optimizing the plant’s cooling systems and reducing chiller operational requirements. Jewel was able to devise and implement measures that re-
sulted in an annual 32 percent average an-nual reduction in chiller operating hours in the past four consecutive years, compared to the previous five years. “This equates to avoiding 726 hours or 30 days of operation annually,” he says, adding that it has saved the company more than $20,000 yearly in electrical costs, resulted in improved fer-mentation and process cooling capabilities as well as reduced routine maintenance ex-penses.
Another project Jewell worked on was managing installation and temporary oper-ation of a prototype system that helped the plant displace propane use in the winter of 2012-’13. CVEC, along with other ethanol plants, was hit hard by propane shortages and high prices, which many ethanol plants use as fuel during natural gas curtailment periods. Though a relationship with an-other company, CVEC was able to conduct performance testing on a proprietary liquid natural gas vaporization or re-gasification system that was still in R&D. Without the backup system, the plant may have had to temporarily idle due to restricted availabil-
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ity of natural gas and propane fuel, he says, he says, adding that the ROI was less than a week.
Words of Praise Vincent Copa, process engineer for
CVEC, says Jewell is vital to the com-pany’s goal of completing infrastructure upgrades at the nearly 20-year-old ethanol plant. “One thing that puts Bob head and shoulders above others is his ability to me-diate between departments,” he says. “En-gineering wants the most efficient project with the best ROI (return on investment). Operations wants something they can un-derstand and operate intuitively. Mainte-nance wants easy access to items that re-quire periodic maintenance or calibration. These are not mutually exclusive goals, but Bob seems to ask the right questions at the right times so that the entire staff gets on the same page.”
When asked to describe Jewell, An-drew Zurn, engineering manager said, “In a nut shell, he’s technically competent, de-tail orientated, dependable, hardworking,
honest, has a knack for operating equip-ment and writes a dang nice report.”
In fact, Jewel’s report-writing skills leave Zurn feeling a little envious. Jewel uses those skills to track equipment opera-tion and documents that information in a detailed and organized manner by including photos and notes. “This skill was particu-larly valuable when CVEC commissioned and eventually made sustained operating runs on the commercial scale Frontline BioEnergy gasifier here at CVEC,” he says. “Bob functioned as the chief operator of the gasifier throughout all phases of start-up through sustained operation.” CEVC’s gasifier, which was used to generate steam and replaced pipeline natural gas, was com-pleted in the spring of 2008, in the midst of high natural gas prices, and isn’t opera-tional today.
Other work But Jewell’s performance doesn’t just
shine in his work at CVEC. He’s involved in multiple activities that benefit ethanol and the industrial sector in general, including
PROFILE
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serving on two advisory boards. Currently, he’s in his sixth year as an appointed indus-try representative of the State of Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Con-struction Codes Advisory Council. Estab-lished in 2008, the advisory council works to “to review laws, codes, rules, standards, and licensing requirements relating to build-ing construction,” according to the Minne-sota Department of Labor and Industry website. Among other things, “it may make recommendations about ways to eliminate
inconsistencies, to streamline construction regulation and construction procedures and to improve procedures within and among jurisdictions.”
He has also served for more than two years on Minnesota’s boiler licensing ad-visory board, which collaborated on leg-islation with various representatives of government, industrial, institutional and commercial business sectors. As a result, boiler engineer licenses were reclassified in order to address the issue of licensed opera-
tor staff shortages and to more closely rep-resent current operations across the state. In addition to the license reclassifications, the Minnesota Legislature created a provi-sional first-class engineer license, which al-lows currently licensed second-class A or B engineers to serve as shift engineers at 500-plus horsepower boiler plants, he said. This allows for on-site training and certification of second class engineers to operate site-specific systems that previously required a first class licensed operator.
CORN BIOREFINERY: The 50 MMgy Benson, Minnesota, plant where Jewell works produces fuel ethanol, some of which it blends into E85. Other products are distillers grains, corn oil, wet cake, syrup, and its trademarked Glacial Grains Spirits, which is used in food, beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
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Since the inception of the provisional first-class A or B boiler licensing program in Minnesota, a total of 90 provisional li-censes have been issued to employees work-ing at 36 separate companies, including nine ethanol plants. At this time, there are 46 active individual provisional licenses for this in the state of Minnesota. “It is not un-common for industrial facilities to struggle with staffing challenges regarding filling and keeping people in 1A or 1B licensed opera-tor positions,” he explains. “The provisional
licensing program has given all sectors of industry, including ethanol, another means for addressing staffing shortages regarding those positions and complying to the state operator licensing and steam plant atten-dance requirements.”
Last, but not least, Jewell writes techni-cal articles about water quality, water con-servation and water sustainability for some Minnesota Rural Water Association publi-cations and other organizations. Although the articles aren’t written specifically for the
ethanol industry, the subject matter is rel-evant to the ethanol industry.
Author: Holly JessenManaging Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine