Improved ethanol production eyed

UPI.com
Published: Oct. 24, 2011 at 8:44 PM

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Treating separate parts of corn stalks differently during ethanol conversion would make the production process more efficient, agricultural scientists say.

Purdue University researchers say not all parts of corn stover, the leaves and stalks left in a field after the harvest of cereal grain, are equal and shouldn't be treated alike when processing them to yield ethanol, a university release said Monday.

Normally everything is ground together and blended in the ethanol process, but Purdue research scientist Eduardo Ximenes and his research team found that three distinct parts of the stover -- the rind, pith and leaves -- break down in different ways.

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