Purdue Story Ideas – Energy
Here are news tips compiled in conjunction with a national energy summit taking place Tuesday (Aug. 29) at Purdue University.The Sen. Richard G. Lugar – Purdue University Summit on Energy Security will bring more than 600 leaders to the West Lafayette, Ind., campus to discuss national energy issues and policy. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Purdue President Martin C. Jischke and U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., among others will speak at the event. Brian Lamb, president and CEO of C-SPAN, will serve as panel moderator. A goal of the summit is to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and to develop new strategies for alternative fuels. Additional information about the program is available online.
Additional Purdue energy experts are available online.
Purdue tests process to make more ethanol from grains
Purdue research is squeezing more ethanol out of the production process. Distillers grains, which are left over when processing corn for ethanol, may be further processed to make about 10 percent more ethanol than would normally be produced.A team lead by Purdue researcher Michael Ladisch and partners Gary Welch and Jerry Weiland at Aventine Renewable Energy Inc. in Pekin, Ill., are testing the process. The distillers grains, which are about the color of sawdust and have the consistency of wet snow, are cooked with hot water under pressure and further distilled.
The U.S. Department of Energy agreed to fund testing at the Illinois plant in order to modify and improve the method.
"We've done this in the lab, but in order to move this technology forward, we have to make it work well in an industrial setting," Ladisch says.
CONTACT: Michael Ladisch, distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering, (765) 494-7022, ladisch@purdue.edu
Soy jet fuel in line to take off at Purdue
Researcher Bernie Tao's current soybean research is attempting to get a fledgling fuel off the ground — literally."Aviation companies are under the gun environmentally," Tao says. "They also are in a bind over high gasoline prices and would like to get into the fuel business."
Part of the solution to the airline industry's predicament may come in the form of a jet fuel developed in Tao's lab. This blend of 40 percent biodiesel and current jet fuel will operate a jet engine without any modifications, according to tests performed in a jet engine at the Purdue Airport.
Tao's soy-based jet fuel, which is in the patenting process, also can operate at the cold temperatures required for aircraft and is economically viable for large-scale production. Discussions are under way with potential agencies that might help provide funding for a facility to produce the soy jet fuel in sufficient quantities for further testing.
CONTACT: Bernie Tao, Indiana Soybean Board Professor in Soybean Utilization Research, (765) 494-1183, tao@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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