Aemetis installs and commissions first Mitsubishi ZEBREX system in North America

In California, Aemetis, Inc. completed the installation and commissioning at the Keyes ethanol plant in California of the first Mitsubishi ZEBREX system in North America, reducing overall energy use and lowering the carbon intensity of ethanol. The system is now fully operational, reducing energy costs and increasing biofuel value by more than $5 million per year.

The cost of equipment, engineering and installation of the Mitsubishi ZEBREX system was approximately $10 million. Aemetis expects to receive more than $1 million of grant funding from the PG&E and CPUC Energy Efficiency Program in support of the project. 

The Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation ZEBREX ethanol dehydration system was commissioned after several years of engineering design, fabrication, installation and testing at the Aemetis 65 million gallon per year, low carbon ethanol plant. The patented ZEBREX technology replaces the energy-intensive molecular sieve ethanol dehydration process used by most fuel ethanol plants in the world. The Aemetis plant upgrade is the largest implementation of the ZEBREX system worldwide.