Ethanol Blog

ICM Inc. has been working on cellulosic conversion technology at its research facility in St. Joseph, Mo. since 2009 using a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to an article by Ethanol Producer magazine (http://bit.ly/…).

Using five 15,000-gallon pilot fermenters and four 35,000-gallon hydrolysis/fermentation reactors in its pilot facility, ICM's patent-pending Gen 1.5 cellulosic technology is built on two types of proprietary technology: select milling technology and fiber separation technology. These two technologies can result in 14% great ethanol production yield and about 70% greater oil recovery, or the equivalent of producing the same ethanol production from 14% less corn.

The technology involves slightly more work on the front end of production with pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. While ICM is working with several companies to develop a genetically-modified yeast, federal approval will be required before being used commercially, since they end up in the distillers grain.

The ICM research and development team recently completed a six-week run of its Generation 1.5 process and has pulled more than 2,000 samples during the run, besides other extensive testing. The research and development team is preparing for a similar run on the Gen 2 cellulosic ethanol process in late summer using energy sorghum as feedstock.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

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