The research by David Grewell, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, and his colleagues Melissa Montalbo-Lomboy and Priyanka Chand, has thus far shown that exposing feedstocks to ultrasound consistently enhances the chemical reactions they must undergo to be converted into fuel and other useful chemicals.
Grewell and his fellow researchers will present their findings next week at the 21st International Congress on Acoustics in Montreal.
Among the group's findings is that if one exposes corn to ultrasound, as opposed to employing the traditional technique, known as hydrolysis, in which corn mash is steamed to release its glucose for fermentation, streamlines the process for creating bio-fuels.
Through another series of tests, Grewell and his team found use of ultrasound significantly increases the efficiency of removing lignin from biomass in solution.
Lignin is the chemical compound that binds cellulose and hemicellulose together in plant cell walls. By blasting the bindings with sound, the researchers have shown the time frame for producing bio-fuels can be dramatically reduced.
The researchers have also said they can accelerate transesterification, an important chemical reaction in the process of converting plant oil to biodiesel. IN one example, involving soybean oil, they report that they transformed the raw material into biodiesel in less than a minute.
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