Director's Notes
August, 2011 - Archives
Hello All,
I hope this message finds each and every one of you doing well.
Research & Technical Activities:
- USDA-SCR Project: A 9-day pilot-plant study was conducted by NCERC and USDA-ARS scientist to perform corn to ethanol baseline run and specific run to study back end deoil characteristics. A final report was finished and sent to the Co-PI from USDA for review. Several post-trial tests related to characterize the variation of feedstock and the variation of mash and drop samples have been performed and the data become important statistics record for corn to ethanol baseline study.
- AOCS: A manuscript based on the study to compare various hydrolysis procedures for amino acid testing in animal feed has been prepared and sent to the co-authors from AOCS for review.
- Virginiamycin in DDGS: A collaboration with USDA- ARS scientist to study the fate of virginiamycin during the production of DDGS. The part on antimicrobial activity study is finished and the focus has been placed on developing an analytical method to quantify virginiamycin M and S in intermediates and DDGS extracts by LC/MS/MS.
- Corn Kernel Fiber: We received approval from the SIUE committee on Biosafety, so that we can use USDA modified yeast in the lab. We have started characterizing pretreated material, we used the new enzyme kit and we have conducted fermentation with regular yeast. The results look promising; especially the viscosity reduction in the samples during liquefaction seemed a lot faster than it used to be with the first generation samples.
- Other Grants: Meeting’s with the SIUE STEM Center, where we did brainstorming to get funding for workforce training. We concluded we may want to target the NSF but also the DOD/Navy. We are looking into DOD funding for advanced biofuels with a private collaborator.
Reports and Publications
- USDA Annual Performance Reports: A report entitled “Determining the fate of antibiotics used to control bacterial contamination during fuel ethanol production” and another report entitled “Enzymatic Enhancement of Downstream Corn Oil Recovery in a Corn Dry Grind Process” have been finished and sent to USDA.
- Book Chapter: “Scientific Overview of the Presence and Levels of Mycotoxins in U.S. DDGS” and authored by J. Caupert and Y. Zhang, is published in the book of “Distillers Grains: Production, Properties, and Utilization” edited by K. Liu and K. A. Rosentrator, AOCS press.
- A manuscript entitled “A Survey of Mycotoxins in U.S. Distiller’s Dried Grains with Solubles from 2009 to 2011” and authored by Y. Zhang and J. Caupert was submitted to the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry
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
