1. www.ethanolproducer.com
AUGUST 2015
INSIDE: CORN VARIETY INCREASES PLANT EFFCIENCY
Page 42
STAR OPERATOR
Energy Systems Chief
Shines in Minnesota
Page 36
Technologies
Tweak Dehydration,
Transform Distillation
Page 30
Digging into the Details of
Successful Product Trials

2. 42 | Ethanol Producer Magazine | AUGUST 2015
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

3. AUGUST 2015 | Ethanol Producer Magazine | 43
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
Leader
Optimizes
Aging Plant

4. 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-

5. AUGUST 2015 | Ethanol Producer Magazine | 45
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

6. 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.

7. 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 Jessen
Managing Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine
701-738-4946
hjessen@bbiinternational.com