GAS-L: FW: More Efficient Ethanol Production

["Carl Carley (EML)" <Carl.Carley@eml.ericsson.se>]

Hi all,
Not sure if this is relevant to this list, makes for interesting reading 
Carl

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From: "ARS News Service" <isjd@ars-grin.gov>
To: "ARS News List" <ars-news@ars-grin.gov>
Subject: More Efficient Ethanol Production
Date: Wed, Apr 4, 2001, 3:55 AM


STORY LEAD:
More Efficient Ethanol Production Closer to Reality
___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Kathryn Barry Stelljes, (510) 559-6069, kbstelljes@ars.usda.gov
April 4, 2001
___________________________________________

Producing fuel ethanol from grains at low temperatures may be more
feasible, thanks to improved enzymes developed in the laboratory,
Agricultural Research Service scientists reported Tuesday at the American
Chemical Society meeting in San Diego, Calif.

When grains are processed into ethanol, starch granules are cooked at 105
degrees Celsius (about 223 degrees Fahrenheit) to convert the starch to a
form that enzymes can degrade into simple sugars. About 10 to 15 percent of
the processing energy required to make ethanol goes towards providing the
heat used to cook the starch. Producers, of course, aim to use as little
energy as possible to make the fuel.

Researchers at ARS' Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.,
have developed variants of a natural starch-degrading enzyme that breaks
down starch 50 times faster than the original enzyme in the laboratory, at
37 degrees Celsius (about 99 degrees Fahrenheit).  Enzymes with greater
activity at low temperatures could facilitate development of more
energy-efficient methods of ethanol production.

These findings could also provide additional outlets for wheat, barley and
other grains, and support efforts to increase nonfood uses of agricultural
products. Executive Order 13134, signed by the president in 1999, aims to
triple use of biobased products and bioenergy in the United States by 2010.

At the ACS meeting Tuesday, ARS chemist Dominic Wong and ARS chemical
engineer George Robertson co-chaired a symposium on the application of
combinatorial chemistry in agriculture and food processing.

ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
___________________________________________

Scientific contact: Dominic Wong or George Robertson, ARS Western Regional
Research Center, Process Chemistry and Engineering Research Unit, Albany,
Calif.; phone (510) 559-5621, fax (510) 559-5818, dwsw@pw.usda.gov or
grobertson@pw.usda.gov.
___________________________________________

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