During the recent Corn Utilization and Technology Conference some of the superstars in the industry made presentations during a session chaired by POET’s Vice President of R&D, Mark Stowers. Mark said that he hoped attendees took away a “broader concept.” His session was titled, “Dry Grind Evolution: How new technologies will continue to change the landscape for the dry grind platform.”
Mark says that the integration of biology and engineering has only been around for 30 years. He says that if you go back 20 years the application of that in human health led to a revolution in that industry and that 10 years ago that application led to stacked genes and a revolution in agriculture. Now he says we’re seeing the cumulative effect of those technologies in what he calls industrial biotechnology. This third wave says will affect fuels and materials and every part of our lives. Mark was very excited to see the level of interest in new technologies. Judging by the fact that the room was packed for his session I’d say he has reason to be.
The word “enzymes” was a key one at the CUTC this year and in fact, one whole session was devoted to it titled, “New developments and efficiencies in the world of enzymes.”
One of the speakers on that program was Elizabeth Hood, Arkansas State University. I spoke to her about her presentation. She’s a plant biotechnologist with a small start up company. They produce enzymes for biomass conversion. Her talk was about the work their doing that uses the corn kernel as the bio-factory for making enzymes. She’s hoping that this will be a co-product for ethanol production.
Elizabeth says it will be about 12 to 16 months until they have commercial products and that they’ve been working on the project for about 7 years.
You can listen to my interview with Elizabeth here:
For many people, ethanol seems like a new product, although it’s anything but. What is new is how researchers are finding new products that can be made from ethanol itself.
At the recent CUTC, one of the presentations was “Reactive Distillations for Chemical Products from Ethanol” by Carl Lira, Michigan State University. I spoke with him about the work he’s doing in this area.
Carl says he’s looking at methods to diversify the ethanol production platform. For example, he’s looking at new products that can be made from ethanol so that producers can diversify and react to the market in different ways. He’s trying to get them to think with more of a bio refinery philosophy. From a product standpoint, he’s using ethanol as a reagent to produce high quality chemicals.
He says they’ve done some economic analysis which is available from NCGA and that it looks very attractive.
One of the many presenters at the recent CUTC was Mariam Sticklen, Michigan State University. Her topic was, “Modifying of the Corn Genome for Cellulosic Ethanol.” She had a full room since this is such a timely topic.
She says that corn ethanol is a transition but that it’s a good, mature technology which can still be improved. So she’s been working on ways to improve cellulosic production. Her team (she says she just gives the talks) is working to modify the corn genome so it can produce all the enzymes necessary for converting the cellulose into fermentable sugar so it can be converted to ethanol. In my interview with her you can hear more about this research project.
She understands that companies need to find ways to produce cellulosic ethanol in a commercially viable way and says that for that to happen it’s going to require gene modification to lower the costs. She says that this can be done now and how quickly we’ll see it on the market is dependent on when companies invest the resources to make it happen.
While I was attending the CUTC I turned the tables on one of the media representatives covering the conference. Pictured on the left is Andy Vance, Buckeye Ag Radio Network along with NCGA’s Christina Koboldt.
I asked Andy why he attended. He says that what’s happening with corn is extremely important right now to his audience and that he couldn’t imagine not being there. Since the CUTC focuses a lot on new uses for corn he wondered if some of the new uses would generate as much public reaction as using corn for ethanol has.
Andy says that there were several Ohio growers present and even leading some of the sessions. He thinks that growers should participate since these new technological uses of corn are very important to their future.
It has been a great day here at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. I’m going to have to head out early in the morning but have quite a few more interviews to post over the coming week or so including with several of the speakers.
I thought I’d leave you with this picture from the photo album to show you an example of a new use of corn. This is my empty wine glass from tonight’s reception and as it says, it’s made from corn. Once I saw that I realized why it tasted so good.
There’s over 100 photos in the online album for you to peruse. Keep your eye out for more Corn Commentary on CUTC.
One of the sponsors of the CUTC is the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and we had a few representatives here including (l-r) Gary Wheeler and Gary Clark, as well as Jamey Cline, BBI International. They all work here in Missouri where the conference is taking place.
I got them all to talk with me a little about the event with their impressions and observations. Some of the things that they mentioned included getting good information, especially on the supply side of things and also with distillers grains as well as new enzyme technology. They all agree that this is a very timely conference for the industry since we’re seeing a lot of change and ideas presented here will help us prepare for the changes of the future.
It’s always good to hear what the leadership has to say about your event. So I found Rick Tolman (l), CEO of the NCGA and Richard Glass (r), VP of Research and Business Development for NCGA who are seated here at one of today’s presentations at the conference.
When I spoke to Rick Tolman he said that he’s always rejuvenated by the ideas, enthusiasm and energy expressed here. He says the exciting story is the productivity in corn production. Like me he also doesn’t see a food vs. fuel issue but one of food and fuel because the corn production pie is growing. But even beyond fuel we’re hearing about other types of new products being made from corn. For example, he says the NCGA offices are being carpeted with a product made from corn.
Here’s my interview with Rick Tolman:
When I spoke to Richard Glass he said that he’s really impressed with this conference. He says there are people here representing 11 countries counting the United States and that we have 35 speakers in 10 sessions. He says this is perfect timing to have the conference because of all the things going on with ethanol and the push to relieve our dependence on petrochemicals.
The grand opening session of exhibitors and the poster session at the CUTC got started with a ribbon cutting by USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr (l) and NCGA VP Bob Dickey (r).
Following them we entered the exhibit area and were treated to a reception that consisted of some good food and something that I can only describe as a “corntini.” At least it was a martini with corn in it. Someone else will have to fill in the details for that in the comments.
The exhibits will be open again in the morning for breakfast.
During the recent Corn Utilization and Technology Conference some of the superstars in the industry made presentations during a session chaired by POET’s Vice President of R&D, Mark Stowers. Mark said that he hoped attendees took away a “broader concept.” His session was titled, “Dry Grind Evolution: How new technologies will continue to change the landscape for the dry grind platform.”
The word “enzymes” was a key one at the CUTC this year and in fact, one whole session was devoted to it titled, “New developments and efficiencies in the world of enzymes.”
For many people, ethanol seems like a new product, although it’s anything but. What is new is how researchers are finding new products that can be made from ethanol itself.
One of the many presenters at the recent CUTC was Mariam Sticklen, Michigan State University. Her topic was, “Modifying of the Corn Genome for Cellulosic Ethanol.” She had a full room since this is such a timely topic.
While I was attending the CUTC I turned the tables on one of the media representatives covering the conference. Pictured on the left is Andy Vance, 
It has been a great day here at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. I’m going to have to head out early in the morning but have quite a few more interviews to post over the coming week or so including with several of the speakers.
One of the sponsors of the CUTC is the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and we had a few representatives here including (l-r) Gary Wheeler and Gary Clark, as well as Jamey Cline, BBI International. They all work here in Missouri where the conference is taking place.
It’s always good to hear what the leadership has to say about your event. So I found Rick Tolman (l), CEO of the NCGA and Richard Glass (r), VP of Research and Business Development for NCGA who are seated here at one of today’s presentations at the conference.
The grand opening session of exhibitors and the poster session at the CUTC got started with a ribbon cutting by USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr (l) and NCGA VP Bob Dickey (r).