Project Number: 5447-41000-002-06
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: May 01, 2007
End Date: Apr 30, 2009

Objective:
MBI will work collaboratively with SDSU and ARS in developing and evaluating current, modified, and next generation biofuel coproduct streams, including AFEX-treated materials produced by MBI, and determine their applicability for use in beef, dairy, and swine rations, as well as other value-added products. Specifically, MBI¿s research objectives include: Objective I: Develop a Continuous AFEX Processing System. A new design will be validated through a full range of experiments to confirm process efficiency within previously established ranges. Upon completion, MBI will be able to make AFEX-treated products in hundred pound quantities, rather than kilogram quantities. This will be a significant step towards making residue products for evaluation by NCARL and SDSU. Objective II: Develop and Evaluate Improved Processes for AFEX Pre-treatment of Corn Fiber, DDGs and Deoiled DDGs. This goal of this objective is to determine the level of additional ethanol that can be produced at a current corn dry mill by utilizing corn fiber, DDGS, and deoiled DDGS. In addition to optimizing the ethanol production from this process, MBI plans to produce sufficient residues from these fermentations so that NCARL and SDSU can evaluate the value of these residues as monogastric livestock feeds and other value-added products.

Approach:
The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate the functionality of the newly designed MBI continuous AFEX process (2nd generation of CAFEX) for pretreatment of DDGs and corn fiber at capacity of 300 lb/hr. Additional work will focus on integration of the AFEX pretreatment process with enzyme hydrolysis and fermentation. Pretreatment cannot be developed as a stand-alone technology. Successful biofuel production from biomass will require integration of pretreatment with appropriate hydrolysis techniques and appropriate fermentation methodologies. Recovery and reusing the ammonia is essential to achieve low chemical cost in the AFEX process. The current design for ammonia recovery has high capital cost and high energy operating cost. There is a need to develop a process that is less cost intensive. MBI will conduct evaluations of several options. A CAFEX model will be updated, as data is collected, to guide selection of experimental conditions and economic impact. The initial cellulosic conversion to ethanol or other chemicals will be the transformation of corn kernel cellulosics in traditional dry mill ethanol plants. Dry mill ethanol producers are interested in further processing of distillers grains (DDGs). MBI has demonstrated that this stream can be processed to provide additional ethanol from the cellulosics and a new distiller¿s residue that is much lower in fiber, higher in protein and reduced in volume by as much as 60%. These residues may have increased value as animal feeds and biocomposite materials.