Iowa State Boosts Corn/Ethanol Yield Using Ultrasound - AFP

[hatrack]

David Grewell flipped a switch and one of the ultrasonic machines in his Iowa State University laboratory pumped out high-frequency sound waves. Those 20 kilohertz waves were too high for human hearing. But put the machine's circular, metal horn in a bucket of water and the sound waves get the liquid bubbling with a loud hiss. Then put a sheet of aluminum foil in the bucket and watch the power of cavitation - the formation and collapse of bubbles - as it marks the metal with tiny dimples and starts to tear it apart.

If a few seconds of ultrasonic treatment can do that to metal, think what ultrasonics can do to corn kernels, said Grewell, an Iowa State assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

It turns out ultrasonics can do a lot to the corn slurry that's used to produce ethanol. Samir Khanal, an Iowa State research assistant professor of environmental engineering, said the conventional dry-milling process that's used to make ethanol doesn't convert all the starch in corn kernels into the simple sugars that can be fermented into ethanol.

A team of Iowa State researchers has demonstrated that pre-treating milled corn with ultrasonics can break the corn pieces into even finer particles. That exposes more of the corn's starch to the enzymes that convert starch to simple sugars. The research team also plans to see if ultrasonics releases some sugars from the fibrous, cellulosic material in corn.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ultrasonics_Boosts_Release_Rates_Of_Corn_Sugars_For_Ethanol_Production.html

[MADem]

1. That's pretty interesting! n/t

[Rude Horner]

2. I own an E85 vehicle and I love hearing about stuff like this

Every little bit helps. :thumbsup:

[JohnWxy]

4. actually, 30% improvement in yield is very significant.

For one innovation/process to produce this much gain is dramatic. And this really isn't even a very 'high-tech' or revolutionary process change. Ultrasound is used in a number of industrial applications. This is the result of somebody just setting about thinking how can this process be improved.

[JohnWxy]

3. This increases sugar yield by almost 30% and reduces energy consumed !!

Grewell said ultrasonic treatment in laboratory experiments has increased corn's release rates of sugars by nearly 30 percent. And that could mean each bushel of corn that goes into an ethanol plant could more efficiently produce ethanol for your car's fuel tank.

"This seems to work very well," Grewell said. "We're releasing more of the corn's stored energy in a shorter period of time with less energy consumption."

The discovery has led to a patent application and a one-year provisional patent for immediate commercialization of the technology.

Grewell is directing the research project. Khanal and Hans van Leeuwen, an Iowa State professor of environmental engineering, are also working on the project.

Their research is supported by an $80,519 grant from Iowa State's share of the Grow Iowa Values Fund, the state's economic development fund.

I suppose we'll hear screaming complaints about the subidizing of this research by the government.


Thanks for the post, very interesting. Potentially, very significant.

[Javaman]

5. I have been using ultrasound for years....

"GROW, DAMN IT!!! GROW!!!"

[JohnWxy]

6. Integrating Ultrasonics into Dry Corn Milling to Enhance Ethanol Yield

http://www.ccee.iastate.edu/research/projects/projectid/1140535067


"There are considerable amounts of residual starch in the whole stillage, which are not easily accessible by enzymes during liquefaction. However, generation of additional ethanol necessitates some form of pretreatment or use of an improved enzyme. One strategy to improve ethanol production is to integrate a high-power ultrasound into existing dry milling ethanol plants. We hypothesize that retrofitting a high-powered ultrasonic unit in existing ethanol plants will yield more ethanol.
~~
~~

This innovative pretreatment will facilitate complete starch conversion into simple sugars and consequently improving the overall ethanol yield. This will also reduce the total amount of enzymes and nutrient needed, and the processing time.


Ultrasonic pretreatment of corn slurry resulted in nearly a 50-fold reduction in corn particle size during 40 seconds of sonication. The sugar yield improved by 30% in comparison to a control under the same conditions. With the advancement in ultrasonic technology in recent years, the energy conversion efficiency of ultrasonic units has improved to > 90%.

This breakthrough research showed tremendous potential to increase profitability in the rapidly growing dry corn milling ethanol industry, and cut down our dependency on imported fuels. The research team has already filed a patent application and several dry corn milling ethanol industries have shown interest in this technology."