Enhancing ethanol production

16th January, 2008

In developing regions national food security understandably takes precedence over various green agendas. When there’s a choice to be made between growing crops to feed people or to feed cars, the population is bound to win. Despite this, environmental targets still need to be met. As a result a significant amount of time and research is being ploughed into either new technologies which can increase yields from traditional crops, or processes which can produce bioethanol from non-food or second generation sources.

So-called first generation bioethanol production is based on techniques used for hundreds of years to produce beverage alcohol. Whether it is high class brandy, Scotch, backyard hooch or fuel for a car, ethanol is normally made by fermenting a sugar solution with yeast then distilling the resultant brew to separate the alcohol from the water. The sugar can come from fruits, or in some areas, notably Brazil, from sugarcane; in cooler climes it is more commonly derived from grain. In traditional beer making grain is malted i.e. subjected to moisture and warmth which causes the grain to sprout, during which starch in the grain is converted into sugar to fuel the growth of the plant.

When the sugar level reaches its maximum the grain is heated to stop further growth then boiled in water to extract the sugar. Such time consuming processes are fine for the drinks industry, but are much too expensive for fuel production, so enzymes such as glucoamylase are used to break down starch into sugar.

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