Commonwealth Agri-Energy (CAE) announces production of high purity alcohol that meets and exceeds U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP)-Grade.
"Our 190-proof PURE product is well below USP impurity limits," says General Manager Mick Henderson.
Located in Hopkinsville, KY, CAE undertook a major expansion in 2018 to increase fuel ethanol production to 45 million gallons/year. The company said the modifications and added equipment during the expansion allowed them to quickly transition a portion of production to higher purity.
"When the pandemic came to our door, we quickly realized our plant could be a bio-based sustainable solution for meeting increased sanitization demand. We have been meeting this demand since March 2020 and have been committed ever since to improving our quality," Henderson adds.
While many ethanol producers have ramped up or announced plans to bring new USP-grade production to the market, Henderson said that CAE has focused on markets beyond hand sanitizer.
"It’s our ambition to further improve our 190 proof PURE quality to best in class Grain Neutral Spirits (GNS) in the coming months, increase that capacity from five to 10 million gallons per year, and do it energy efficiently," he says. "This commitment will allow us to diversify into the beverage market in which we are logistically advantaged to be cost competitive. In addition, we are focused on improving our 200-proof product that today meets Food Chemicals Codex (FCC)-Grade and will allow us to meet demand that requires 100% alcohol content."
CAE has worked alongside its ethanol marketer, Eco-Energy, to sell their high purity alcohol into the market.
“Producing a USP-grade product isn’t possible by most producers without a significant investment and long lead time," says Ryan Strickland, director of alliance marketing at Eco-Energy. "To witness them reach five million gallons per year of USP-grade production by August 2020 was impressive but not surprising knowing the company’s makeup over the last 12 years we have worked together."
About Commonwealth Agri-Energy
Commonwealth Agri-Energy, LLC is proudly owned by the 3,500 members of the Hopkinsville Elevator Cooperative. This year, CAE will use over 15,000,000 bushels of corn to produce: 45,000,000 gallons of ethanol for fuel/industrial/pharmaceutical/beverage markets, distillers dried and wet grains, animal feed grade distillers corn oil (also used for biodiesel) and CO2 for carbonated beverage and dry ice production.
