Separation of glucose and pentose sugars by selective enzyme hydrolysis of AFEX-treated corn fiber.

A process was developed to fractionate corn fiber into glucose- and pentose-rich fractions. Corn fiber was ammonia fiber explosion treated at 90 degrees C, using 1 g anhydrous ammonia pergram of drybiomass, 60% moisture, and 30-min residence time. Twenty four hour hydrolysis of ammonia fiber explosion-treated corn fiber with cellulase converted 83% of available glucanto-glucose.

Enzyme recovery and recycling following hydrolysis of ammonia fiber explosion-treated corn stover.

Both cellulase and cellobiase can be effectively recovered from hydrolyzed biomass using an ultrafiltration recovery method. Recovery of cellulase ranged from 60 to 66.6% and for cellobiase from 76.

Enhancing profitability of dry mill ethanol plants: process modeling and economics of conversion of degermed defibered corn to ethanol.

An Aspen Plus modeling platform was developed to evaluate the performance of the conversion process of degermed defibered corn (DDC) to ethanol in 15- and 40-million gallons per year (MGPY) dry mill ethanol plants. Upstream corn milling equipment in conventional dry mill ethanol plants was replaced with germ and fiber separation equipment. DDC with higher starch content was fed to the existing saccharification and fermentation units, resulting in higher ethanol productivity than with regular corn.