A Purdue University team led by professor Li-fu Chen and research assistant Qin Xu, both from the Purdue food science department, discovered a new method to create ethanol from corn. The method also produces biodegradable byproducts that could be safely eaten.
“Our process, which we are calling the Chen-Xu Method, not only makes ethanol, but products that are fit for human consumption,” Chen said. “This process also produces corn oil, corn fiber, gluten and zein, which is a protein that can be used in the manufacture of plastics so that the containers are good for the environment because they are biodegradable and easily decompose.
The Chen-Xu Method produces about 2.85 gallons of ethanol for every bushel of corn processed. That output is slightly higher than current methods, but the same process that creates the ethanol also creates other marketable products. Chen said the method also meets federal Clean Air Act standards, eliminating costs that other methods incur in meeting environmental regulations.
“One of the common methods of manufacturing ethanol, called dry milling, is often the cause of air pollutants by drying and storage of DDG, a byproduct of the process,” Chen said. “Another method – wet milling – produces an odor because it requires the input of sulfur dioxide. The Chen-Xu Method eliminates both issues, and the only odor comes from the smell of the corn and yeast fermentation.”
Using a machine originally designed to make plastics, the Chen-Xu Method grinds corn kernels and liquefies starch with high temperatures. The water input required by wet milling is reduced by 90 percent, Chen said. Wastewater output is cut by 95 percent, and electricity use is reduced by 47 percent.
“The total operating cost of a Chen-Xu Method ethanol plant should be much less than that of a wet-milling plant, and total equipment investment is less than half,” Chen said. “And with proper planning and management, total equipment investment should be less than that of a dry-milling plant.”
Should we send a copy of this to the Saudi oil minister?
This is great. If this process works and we can reduce the electricity required by almost half then I’ll be on the ethanol bandwagon.
HOWEVER – we have to convert all farm equipment to bio-diesel or ethanol before there’s a real benefit. If we’re harvesting the corn using conventional farm machinery that burns good old-fashioned diesel or gas then we’re still not far enough ahead of the curve.
#1 – HOLY CRAP!!!
There’s another liberal in Indiana!!! Don’t worry man! I’ll save you!
New John Deere tractors and combines burn biodiesel. A new machine can run $120K+. Older diesel equipment will also burn biodiesel blends (85% biodiesel) quite efficiently. I can’t think of any modern farm equipment that runs on gasoline. At least none used by corn/soybean growers. Welcome to the ethanol bandwagon, hoosierplew!
1.
You aint been raised in the country HAVE YOU??
AND you can mix Alcohol with the diesal for winter use..
Let’s see.. doing a little ‘sci-fi’ future posited on this:
Driving along in the ethanol powered ‘car’, pull over to a McChen-Xu’s for a snack in a biodegradable container. All from corn?
J/P=?
Here’s a thought, instead of ethanol and corn oil, how about they make CORN and corn oil? Making this ethanol is going to make food more expensive, and with the extra subsidizes, we’re going to see even more farmers switching from other crops to corn. All to make some enviros feel better while using more energy at the same time. Even the West Wing liberals wouldn’t go along with this(Season 6 King Corn.) Then again I guess it’s OK for this site that hates Walmart and loves making things more expensive for poor people, but giving them free wi-fi and movie downloads.
It’s my understanding that making ethanol from starch and sugar (the corn cob) is very inefficient. There are newer methods on the horizon that will convert cellulose, the woody part of the plan, into ethanol.
Recently geneticists sequenced the Poplar tree, which they said would make an excellent biofuel crop:
The reasearch was recently on the cover of Science magazine. There is also a Talk of the Nation Science Friday interview with Jerry Tuskan, a plant geneticist involved in the research.
“Under optimal conditions, poplars can add a dozen feet of growth each year and reach maturity in as few as four years, permitting selective breeding for large-scale sustainable plantation forestry,”
Sounds like poplars must suck a lot of nutrients out of the soil? Or am I missing something?
What kind of “crop rotation” or heavy fertilizing will be needed to grow them on an industrial scale?
Mike, you and Dougless aren’t spending enough time here at the site.
Why? Take a look at this month’s Consumer Reports – “The Ethanol Myth” that debunks the theory that E-85 is good for…. well, pretty much anything. It cleans the emissions a bit and boosts performance a tad, but it cuts fuel economy dramatically.
Poplar is Wood alcohol…Its used to clean PARTS, and kill you if you drink it.
Want a better product?? try HEMP. 3-6 crops a year, grows like a weed.
If we converted our entire agriculture output to fuel production, we would be energy dependent in less than a year.
Because MOST OF US WOULD STARVE!!!
Hello!
It took billions of years to concentrate the fossil energy we are blowing through in a couple of hundred years. We cannot possibly GROW that much energy in a single growing season. Alcohol is an interesting way to reduce emissions in select markets, but it will never be enough to meet our current, not to mention our future, energy needs.
Luckily I will not live to see the complete depletion of our oil reserves, but I fear for my grand children. They will be paying 50 bucks for a gallon of gas.
Don
12,
THERe is a chance…
Its an old style farming, and NEW products..
We could terrace hills and moutians, that CANT be used for food crops, and grow hemp products…they grow better that way also..
HOLY CARP!
When are we going to get moving as a society to get off the Oil drug!
It’s like crack.
I guarantee that if there is any way possible – my next auto purchase will be a diesel or flex fuel car.
#8 – What kind of “crop rotation” or heavy fertilizing will be needed to grow them on an industrial scale?
Comment by Mike Voice — 9/19/2006 @ 5:14 pm
Hemp?
#12 – -If we converted our entire agriculture output to fuel production, we would be energy dependent in less than a year.
Because MOST OF US WOULD STARVE!!!
You are under the mistaken assumption that most of our American diet consists of actual food in the first place.
These days, fast food joints, supermarkets, gas stations, my mother’s kitchen… all these places scare the crap out of me.