title: Shock treatment of corn stover.
abstract: Corn stover digestibility was enhanced via shock treatment. A slurry of lime-treated corn stover was placed in a partially filled closed vessel. From the ullage space, either a shotgun shell was fired into the slurry, or a gas mixture was detonated. Various conditions were tested (i.e., pressures, depth, solids concentrations, gas mixtures). A high pressurization rate (108,000 MPa/s shotgun shells; 4,160,000 MPa/s hydrogen/oxygen detonation) was the only parameter that improved enzymatic digestibility. Stoichiometric propane/air deflagration had a low pressurization rate (37.2 MPa/s) and did not enhance enzymatic digestibility. Without shock, enzymatic conversion of lime-treated corn stover was 0.80 g glucan digested/g glucan fed with an enzyme loading of 46.7 mg protein/g glucan. With shock, the enzyme loading was reduced by ∼2× while maintaining the same conversion. Detonations are extraordinarily fast; rapidly cycling three small vessels (0.575 m3each) every 7.5 s enables commercially relevant shock treatment (2,000 tone/day). © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:815-823, 2017.
authors.affiliation: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843.
authors.forename: Austin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.affiliation: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843.
authors.forename: Hema
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rughoonundun
authors.affiliation: Artie McFerrin Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.affiliation: Flippen Group LLC, College Station, TX, 77845.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Holtzapple
authors.affiliation: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holtzapple
mesh_terms: D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D011312:Pressure; D011407:Propane; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D006859:Hydrogen; D010100:Oxygen; D011407:Propane
keywords: alkaline pretreatment; data acquisition; deflagration; detonation; enzymatic digestibility; piezoelectric; shock treatment; shock wave