ethanol production from corn kernel fiber lowers the carbon footprint of existing ethanol plants....

Federal: 1997 Farm Bill, $14 million appropriation under the Research Title.

State: 1997, Capital Grant of $7 million, administered by Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity.

Ground Broken: October, 2001

Doors Opened: October 2003

Our

Creation

Our

Mission

• To facilitate the commercialization of new technologies for producing biofuels more effectively!

• To utilize our relationships with government, industry, academia and trade to conduct both private sector and grant funded research!

• To advocate, educate and motivate consumers and elected officials on the benefits of biofuels.

• To develop and provide hands-on training to prepare the biofuels workforce of tomorrow!

Service Capabilities

Pilot Testing:

4 x 6,000 gal fermentors

“Plug and play” configuration

Front-end dry-grind fractionation

Fermentation Suite: 30-150-1500 L sterilizable vessels

Integrated with Pilot Plant and Lab

Pretreatment capabilities

Laboratory Fermentation: 0.1 to 5 L

Fully equipped QA/QC lab

• Illinois Department of Agriculture • Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity • United States Department of Agriculture • United States Department of Energy • United States Department of Labor • Private Sector • Trade Organizations

Opportunities for Collaborative Partnerships!

Human nutrition

Fat/oil analysis

Cellulosic ethanol

Advanced biofuels

Quality assurance and control

Process optimization

Feedstock characterization

Our Efforts

Specialty chemicals

Process scaleup

Bioprocessing

Proof of concept

Grain fractionation

Commercialization of New Technologies

Ten years later …………

Hands-on Training and Education

More than 50 technologies that have passed through our doors are now in the commercial marketplace.

58/62 interns went directly to work in the private sector.

93% of NCERC’s 600 workforce development trainees are now employed in the biofuels, chemical, and petroleum industries.

Ethanol Is Not New

Lincoln, Nebraska

1933

Renewable Fuels Standard

Presidential Signing: On Wednesday December 19, 2007 President George W. Bush signed into law the: “Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007”.

Highlights of the Energy Bill: 36 billion gallons of Renewable Fuels by the Year 2022:

1. 15 billion gallons of ethanol derived from corn.

2. 21 billion gallons of advanced & cellulosic biofuels.

10

EPA Staff Deliberative Draft: Do not cite, quote, or distribute 11

Advanced Biofuels Initiative

Enabling NCERC to pursue research projects in the advanced biofuels space

Cellulosic Feedstocks

Corn Cobs

Switch Grass

Sugar Cane

Woody Biomass Stover Wood Chips

Cellulosic Feedstocks

Corn Fiber

Cellulosic ethanol from corn right here, right now!

Why study corn kernel

fiber?

Other Reasons…

Cellulosic material is already at the ethanol plant

The industrial infrastructure is already in place

It increases the yields up to 5-10% per bushel of corn.

It lowers the carbon footprint of existing ethanol plants.

New value-added co-products will become available

It is a bridge to new technologies!

Work at NCERC: Timeline

2007-2008: Steam activation, characterization*

2008-2009: Chemical pretreatment , characterization*

2009-2010: Pretreatment, viscosity and enzymatic hydrolysis tests*

2011: Recombinant yeast evolution

2011-2013: Corn fiber fermentations (1-150L)*

*By Specific Cooperative Agreement with the USDA

Scale Up Results: 30 L

Corn fiber feedstock

Unmodified S. Cerevisiae

Ethanol Yield: 8% of corn fermentation

Conversion efficiency: 97% (no xylose)

Scale Up Results: 150 L

EVG-51 on pure corn fiber (<8% starch)

Fermentation complete after 48 hours

100% glucose, 72% xylose consumed

Current goals

Feedstock tests

Corn fiber corn mash

Front-end vs. back-end

Process optimization

Reproducibility

Scale-up

Yeast Strain Selection

Summary of Cellulosic Ethanol

Demonstrated reproducible scale-up

Achieved full conversion of sugars in as low as 48 hours

Utilized both natural and modified S.Cerevisiae

Corn mash conversion consistent with corn fiber results

Ability to identify starch vs. cellulose contribution to yield

Process under provisional patent

Acknowledgements

IL Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity

Illinois Corn Marketing Board

Specific Cooperative Agreement with U.S. Department of Agriculture

For more information, contact:

John Caupert Executive Director

618-659-6737 ext. 226 jcaupert@ethanolresearch.com