Director's Notes
September, 2011 - Archives
Hello All,
I hope this message finds each and every one of you doing well.
Research & Technical Activities:
- Virginiamycin in DDGS: A collaboration with USDA ARS to study the fate of virginiamycin during the corn to ethanol production process. The study on antimicrobial activity is complete, and progress has been made on developing an analytical method to quantify virginiamycin M in intermediates and DDGS extracts by LC/MS/MS.
- DDGS: A project to conduct explosive ability of co-products from corn to ethanol production has been funded. The co-products include DDGS, corn gluten meal (CGM) and corn gluten feed (CGF). We have started to gather for co-product samples for this project.
- Corn Kernel Fiber: We started a series of fermentation experiments with regular yeast to achieve a baseline against the xylose-fermenting yeasts that we will be testing. This work is will be ongoing. We have had excellent results with second generation cellulosic enzymes: they reduce the enzymatic hydrolysis time by a factor of 10 (2 hours vs. 24 hours for hydrolysis).
- Other Grants: In September we discovered two RFPs that would be applicable for research in renewable energy. After discussing this with a potential private sector collaborator, we decided we could put in an application for a “Biogas and Biomass to Energy” grant program.
Capital Projects:
- Fractionation: Equipment installation is complete. Distributed Control System(DCS) check out in process. Commissioning the week of October 24, 2011.
- Fermentation Seed Train: Solicitation for donation for equipment is in process.
- Laboratory Fume Hoods: Contractor installation of utilities is in process.
Outreach Activities:
- NCERC Staff: Attended a meeting of Pharmacy and Chemistry research faculty to explore the possibilities of collaborating with the Indian Institute of Technology.
- NCERC Staff: Prof. Zhou of SIUE Civil Engineering asked Dr. Sabrina Trupia (Asst. Director for Biological Research) to be on the thesis committee of students Ran (Joanna) Zhao. Joanna will be performing research experiments here at NCERC.
- NCERC Staff: Dr. Sabrina Trupia (Asst. Director for Biological Research) attended a meeting in Omaha for the third annual HPLC collaborative for the ethanol industry on behalf of a returning private Client.
- NCERC Staff: John Caupert (Director) attended a policy and leadership conference of Growth Energy in Washington, DC.
Until next time, have a good, productive and safe month.
Regards,
John Caupert, Director National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center
Phone: 618-659-6737 Ext 226
Email: jcaupert@ethanolresearch.com
