CleanTechnica

Researchers at Michigan State University have patented a process for pretreating corn crop waste that they say will cut the cost of making cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.

Cellulosic ethanol is made from wood pulp, grasses and crop wastes. The technology promises better energy output than corn-based ethanol, at prices that could be cost-competitive with gasoline.

Professor Bruce Dale and his team used ammonia to break down cellulose in plants 75 percent more efficiently than current methods. In order to make biofuels from plants, the cellulose inside them needs to be turned into fermentable sugar first.

Current treatment processes use an acid to start the breakdown, but that means the crop waste must be washed before it can be used and that removes nutrients essential to the ethanol process. Ammonia eliminates the need to detoxify the waste, leaving more nutrients to be converted into usable fuel.

The MSU team published their findings in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The next step, Dale says, would be opening a pilot plant to demonstrate the technology on a larger level and adapt it for commercial use. Several companies, including Mascoma Corp., which is planning a cellulosic ethanol plant in Michigan, are interested in the technology, he said. Mascoma has also worked with Dartmouth to find new ways of producing larger quantities of celluosic ethanol.

Photo credit: MarS at Flickr, via a Creative Commons License.

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