Transcript The Chemistry of Ethanol Production - National Corn-to

The Chemistry of Ethanol
Production
Sabrina Trupia, Ph.D.
NCERC
Overview

What is NCERC and what do we do

Ethanol production

Chemistry of front end

Chemistry of fermentation

Chemistry of Back End

Additional analyses
The National Corn-to-Ethanol
Research Center (NCERC)
MISSION:
To facilitate the commercialization of new technologies for
producing fuel ethanol more effectively.
We are a place for:

Demonstration Research

Commercial Testing

Third Party Validation

Workforce Training

R&D
NCERC provides under one roof:

Analytical Research Lab

Fermentation Research Lab

Pilot Plant: Dry-Grind & Wet Mill

Workforce Development Training
Ethanol production
The production of ethanol is among man's earliest
ventures into value-added processing. While the
basic steps remain the same, the process has
been considerably refined in recent years,
leading to a very efficient process.
Grain
Qual
DE
pH
Particle Size
pH
HPLC
Hammer Mill
Liquefaction
Slurry
Tank
Prox.
Anal.
(Cooling)
Jet
Cooker
DE
TS %
pH
Fermentation
(Heating)
FRONT END
(190 Proof )
H2O %
9
Ethanol
Storage
Amino Acids
Total P
Proximates
Ash
etc.
DDGS
BACK END
Drum Dryer
Distillation
System
Molecular
Sieve
9
(200 Proof )
(Recycled Water)
HPLC
Centrifuge
TS%
Evaporator
(Syrup)
Whole
Stillage
Centrifuge
(Thin
Stillage)
( Wet Cake)
TM
Analytical tests – Front End
Grain and Flour



Moisture (oven, moisture balance or NIR)
Fat, Protein, Starch (NIR)
Particle size
Slurry and Liquefaction

pH

Dextrose Equivalent
Analytical Tests – Fermentation

pH

Total Solids

Dissolved Solids

Density

HPLC
12.000
14.000
10.000
12.000
8.000
DP4+
6.000
DP2
4.000
Glucose
Percentage (%)
Percentage (%)
HPLC
10.000
8.000
Ethanol
6.000
Glycerol
4.000
2.000
2.000
0.000
0.000
6
15
21
30
39
45
Fermentation Time (hrs.)
54 62.83
6
15
21
30
39
45
Fermentation Time (hrs.)
54 62.83
Analytical Tests – Back End

HPLC

Proof (water in ethanol)

Proximate and specialty analysis of coproducts

GC (ethanol)
Additional tests

Risk factors

Evaluation of feed

End-product testing for
quality
Thank you