New Method to Produce More Efficient Fuel from Waste
Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new effective and environmentally friendly method, which uses electrolyzed water instead of harsh chemicals in the pretreatment of ethanol waste products to produce an acetone-butanol-ethanol fuel mix.
When ethanol is produced, distiller's dried grain with solubles (DDGS) is a waste product.The glucose in DDGS is stuck together, forming cellulosic corn fiber, but the structure is very tough. It forms a kind of crystalline structure which is very difficult to break.In order to get the glucose out, normally people use a strong acid such as sulfuric acid, or a strong lime base, to loosen it, making holes in it. Once the structure is destroyed, we use enzymes to cut the chain of glucose to get glucose that can be used for fermentation.
The strong sulfuric acid method produces some toxic compounds, which can kill the microbes that produce acetone-butanol-ethanol mix completely.Using alkaline sodium hydroxide as a base, after 60 hours, the acetone-butanol-ethanol production was also relatively low. But using acidic electrolyzed water, at about 20 hours the fermentation process began producing the acetone-butanol-ethanol mix. This new technique also eliminates the detoxification of the traditional acid method.The other advantage of this method is that the traditional method produces a large quantity of solid waste that needs to be handled, and some sugars get consumed in the process as well. We want to maximize the sugar yield so we can maximize the ethanol yield.
Get the full article here
When ethanol is produced, distiller's dried grain with solubles (DDGS) is a waste product.The glucose in DDGS is stuck together, forming cellulosic corn fiber, but the structure is very tough. It forms a kind of crystalline structure which is very difficult to break.In order to get the glucose out, normally people use a strong acid such as sulfuric acid, or a strong lime base, to loosen it, making holes in it. Once the structure is destroyed, we use enzymes to cut the chain of glucose to get glucose that can be used for fermentation.
The strong sulfuric acid method produces some toxic compounds, which can kill the microbes that produce acetone-butanol-ethanol mix completely.Using alkaline sodium hydroxide as a base, after 60 hours, the acetone-butanol-ethanol production was also relatively low. But using acidic electrolyzed water, at about 20 hours the fermentation process began producing the acetone-butanol-ethanol mix. This new technique also eliminates the detoxification of the traditional acid method.The other advantage of this method is that the traditional method produces a large quantity of solid waste that needs to be handled, and some sugars get consumed in the process as well. We want to maximize the sugar yield so we can maximize the ethanol yield.
Get the full article here
Labels: energy, ethanol, research, waste
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