ALCOHOL AND BIODIESEL BY PRODUCTS
BY MIKE MEHREN

Not too long ago I wrote about bio-fuels and the by-products from their production. Some of these plants will definitely be in production by next year and ready to offer their products for us to use. Although the plants are new, we have been feeding bio-fuel by- products for many years. It seems to me that canola meal replaced cottonseed meal in many of the feedmills in the Northwest over 25 years ago. Feedmills have been using corn distillers dried grain with solubles for at least ten years. You may not have purchased either one of these feeds as a commodity, but you certainly have fed them in your protein supplement or mineral supplement.

Let’s distinguish between the by products from biodiesel and from alcohol. To make biodiesel, fat is separated from the other parts of the beginning material. Canola seed has 40% fat (oil or ether extract), which is one of the reasons it is a good candidate for producing bio diesel. Other products are soybeans, safflower seeds, sunflowers seeds, and even municipal garbage. Here’s a comparison of canola seeds, canola meal, and the other by-product from bio-diesel production, glycerin.

Nutrient	Canola Seed	Canola Meal	Glycerin
.........................% of dry matter..............
Crude protein	24	36	--
TDN	127.4	71	97
Fat	40	8	--
Calcium	0.44	0.85	--
Phosphorus	0.68	1.17	--

Notice how removing most of the fat had a huge effect on TDN. Also note that when the fat is removed, the amount of protein, calcium, and phosphorus are increased in the canola meal. Glycerin is quite similar to sugar. It is an excellent source of liquid energy (or TDN). Right now it is being added to liquid supplements to increase their energy content. It can also be fed by itself.

How does canola meal or soybean meal compare cost wise? A simple way to compare products is cost/unit of protein. To do this, the cost is divided by the percent protein.
The table shows several comparisons. You might do your own with your protein supplement.

Feed	Cost/ton	% Protein	Cost/Unit of Protein
Alfalfa Hay	$110	18	$6.11
Canola Meal	$143	34	$4.21
Soybean Meal	$215	47.5	$4.53
Tub, 200 lb	$535	24	$22.29

When alcohol is made, the sugar and starch are removed from the grain or other plant products. Corn is the most prevalent source of sugar and starch, however other products such as barley, wheat, oats, potatoes, grapes, and sugar cane can all provide the raw material. The table that follows shows the by-products that remain after alcohol is produced.

Nutrient	Corn	Corn Distillers Dried Grains w/ Solubles	Corn Gluten Feed
..............................% of dry matter..........................
Crude protein	10	28	23
TDN	90	93	81
Fat	4.1	10.5	3.6
Calcium	0.05	0.25	0.12
Phosphorus	0.30	0.75	0.88

Once again we see a concentration of nutrients in corn distillers dried grains w/ solubles and corn gluten feed such as protein, fat, and minerals that were not removed from the corn. The TDN in these feeds comes from a mixture of fats and non-starch compounds that were not used in the fermenting of the grain. This means that the distillers and corn gluten feed will react differently than grain when they are fed in high roughage rations. One of the problems we worry about when we feed grain to cattle on grass or hay in the drylot is the effect that grain has on the roughage-digesting bugs in the paunch. The microbes that digest starch aren’t the same as those that digest hay, straw, or forage. Ideally we’d like to have all the microbes working together on the feed, rather than some working on different fractions. The alcohol by-products don’t seem to interfere with the roughage-digesting microbes and can be used as an excellent source of protein and energy to supplement range, silage, hay, and straw. Both of these products are quite high in phosphorus, and if they are being fed, it is quite likely that you won’t need a mineral with any additional phosphorus. This represents quite a savings, because phosphorus is one of the most expensive parts of any mineral mix.

One really sad point to report. I’m told that when alcohol is distilled for fuel that a small amount of gasoline must be added so the mix isn’t fit for human consumption.

Let’s also do a cost comparison for the corn by-products

Feed	Cost/ton	% TDN	Cost/Unit of TDN
Corn	$180	90	$2.00
Corn Gluten Feed	$170	81	$2.13
Corn Distillers Dried Grain w/ Solubles	$143	93	$1.54
Glycerin	??	97	??

Doing this kind of comparison provides a relative value to what you might have been feeding. Unfortunately it doesn’t take into account other valuable nutrients. In our corn table there is no credit given to the extra protein in CGF or CDDGS which may be extremely valuable if you’re supplementing meadow hay or straw. The easiest way to get the true value of any new feed in YOUR ration is to have a least-cost evaluation done
using a computer. A nutritionist or your county livestock extension agent would be happy to help you with this. I did one for a ranch recently that showed we could save 25% on our feed cost by using some of the by-product ingredients available.

When you consider feeding a by-product there are a couple of things to check into:

Michael J. Mehren Ph.D. is a livestock nutritionist who wishes he could turn water into wine and then sell all the by-products from his still near Hermiston, Oregon. He may be contacted by Email @ mehrens@eotnet.net.

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