April 12, 2007

US seeks to raise ethanol production efficiency
 

With annual US ethanol production expected to jump from 5 billion gallons (18.9 billion litres) in 2006 to 13 billion gallons (49.2 billion litres) in 2009, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are studying ways to raise production efficiency of the bio-fuel to lessen its impact on the domestic corn market.

David Johnston, ARS food technologist in the Eastern Regional Research Center's (ERRC) Crop Conversion Science and Engineering Research Unit, is studying the use of protease enzymes from microbial and fungal sources to increase ethanol production efficiency.

His findings revealed that enzymes raise nutrient availability for the yeast, speeding up fermentation of sugars. Protease enzymes can also facilitate the process of dewatering remaining solids after ethanol extraction.

By conducting a field test at a small wet-milling facility in Malaysia, Johnston found that enzymes increased starch recovery during processing, which agreed with laboratory test results.

Johnston intends to conduct further tests at several other commercial facilities to analyse the economic implications involved.