Ethanol Production from Maize

The production of fuel ethanol from corn grain is widely carried out in the US, with total current production at 7 billion gallons. This may soon reach 10 billion gallons or more. This chapter addresses the potential of fuel ethanol as an additional source of product based on utilization of the cellulosic (non-food) portions of maize, and in particular the pericarp, cobs, stalks and leaves of the corn plant. An analysis of the composition of corn, and possible processing schemes that transform the cellulosic portions to ethanol are addressed. Technologies for the bioprocessing of cellulose to ethanol, as well as the impact of cellulose utilization on supplementing corn ethanol, are presented. Stefan Schwietzke Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, Purdue University, Potter Engineering Center, 500 Central Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Youngmi Kim, Eduardo Ximenes Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, 225 South University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Nathan Mosier Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, Purdue University, Potter Engineering Center, 500 Central Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, 225 South University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Michael Ladisch Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, Purdue University, Potter Engineering Center, 500 Central Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, 225 South University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, 206 S. Intramural Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA e-mail: [email protected] A.L. Kriz, B.A. Larkins (eds.), Molecular Genetic Approaches to Maize Improvement 347 Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Vol. 63 c © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 348 Stefan Schwietzke et al.