The story of Cayuga Ingredients is a story of innovation and perseverance. It all began over fifteen years ago, when a Wisconsin dairy scientist set out to solve one of the industry’s most enduring problems. Namely, what to do with the billions of gallons of whey generated by the dairy industry every year. Each year. the United States produces well over 10 billion pounds of cheese, resulting in over 100 billion pounds of whey permeate.
Whey permeate is essentially a sugar-water byproduct from cheese manufacturing. Traditionally, the industry has viewed this material as a cost center, paying to offload it to waste treatment centers, or worse, disposing of it in land applications or in rivers and streams. Because of the high oxygen demands, this can wreak havoc on the environment. However, because this liquid permeate contains sugar, in theory, it could be converted into ethanol – for fuel, industrial, or beverage uses. Unfortunately, the traditional yeasts that work on converting grain to ethanol were only partly effective, and economically speaking, more costly than simply disposing of it. Until now…
After many years of trial and error, successes followed by setbacks, and a migration to New York state (Wisconsin’s eastern rival in dairy manufacturing), a commercially viable process and facility was established. Our proprietary yeast converts 100% of whey permeate into ethanol. Set in the heart of Cayuga county, on the eastern edge of the Finger Lakes, our 1 million gallon-per-year capacity plant receives whey permeate a short distance away from some of the most well known dairy producers in the world. Here, the permeate arrives in liquid form and is converted into pure, clean, ethanol. But it doesn’t end there…
Fully 99% of the world’s ethanol is produced from corn, but one of the main criticisms directed at the corn ethanol industry is that it takes about 3 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of ethanol. Fortunately for us, cheese whey permeate is 85% water to begin with. No water is added, and in fact, using our state-of-the-art filtration system, for every gallon of ethanol created, five gallons of pure water is produced. As if this wasn’t enough, we transfer the liquid yeast protein leftover from our process into a high speed centrifuge and dryer, resulting in premium quality, protein-rich animal feed.
The great environmentalist president Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing worth having comes easy.” In that spirit of perseverance and preservation, Cayuga Ingredients seeks to lead the world in sustainable, renewable and responsible ethanol production. We invite you to join us on our journey forward.