Grainnet

Quad County Corn Processors Completes Partnership With FCStone Carbon to Test New Ultrasonic Technology for Ethanol Production in Ida County, IA

Des Moines, IA—Quad County Corn Processors of Galva, IA, will partner with FCStone Carbon, LLC, to test and scale up the company’s patented ultrasonic process technology for ethanol production.

“We are pleased to be a test facility for FCStone Carbon as their process is applied within the real world ethanol production conditions at our plant,” remarked Mike Jerke, general manager of Quad County Corn Processors.

“Far from remaining static, advancements in corn ethanol production technology continue to be realized,” stated Mike Kinley, vice president of technology, FCStone Carbon, LLC.

“Our ultrasonic process is evidence of a new and innovative approach to making the industry more sustainable over the long run.

"The ethanol industry is an industry constantly seeking improvements.”

Sonication for ethanol production

In this first scale-up effort, sonication will be applied to the cooked corn slurry produced during ethanol production.

Research indicates that sonication results in a more efficient breakdown of the corn starch component and as a result, more starch is exposed, creating higher conversions than can be achieved through traditional ethanol production processes.

“We have also demonstrated that sonication impacts the starch component in a manner allowing more efficient enzymatic activity,” Kinley says.

“This technology offers the potential for us to get more Ethanol out of a bushel of corn, or even reduce the amount of corn and enzyme required to make a gallon of ethanol,” explained Jerke.

“We look forward to assisting in the commercial scale-up of this technological breakthrough.”

“We are confident our new ultrasonic technology will prove as successful in production as it has in research,” Kinley commented.

“With Quad County as an enthusiastic partner in the full-scale testing we look forward to bringing the ethanol industry another tool to reduce costs and increase efficiency.”

FCStone Carbon also has other patents pending on this technology, as well as a patent pending on use of ultrasonic technology in cellulosic ethanol production.

Quad County Corn Processors employs a philosophy of continuous process improvement in its 30 million-gallon-per-year plant.

For more information on FCStone Carbon,, call Dick Lindgren at 515-223-3771.

For more information on Quad County Corn Processors, call Mike Jerke at 712-282-4628.