NCERC enters its 20th year of operations in 2023 after two decades of leadership in the biofuels industry. After opening its doors in October 2003, NCERC has served as the primary location for innovation in the corn ethanol industry. Now, NCERC’s clients have evolved to include companies from across the bioindustrial manufacturing sector who benefit from its unique facility and expert staff.

“I am extremely proud of all that NCERC has accomplished over the past twenty years in serving the nation’s biofuels producers and corn farmers,” said John Caupert, executive director of NCERC. “Since the Renewable Fuel Standard was signed into law, the ethanol industry flourished into a 16+ billion gallon industry and a critical part of the United States’ fuel supply, and NCERC has supported it every step of the way through providing the needed support to innovate and improve efficiency. Now, we are excited to be part of the research in establishing the new generation of corn-to-biotechnologies that will bring the same carbon reduction benefits to new industries.”

“I am so proud of the contributions NCERC has made in the U.S. ethanol industry,” said Jim Reed, chairman of IL Corn and farmer in DeLand. “Former IL Corn leaders saw a need, pursued their vision, and the end result is 20 years of corn market demand research and the expertise we can build on to grow corn market demand into the future.”

“As we see today, the fight for energy continues to exist,” said former Congressman Joh Shimkus. “My push for energy security revolved around passing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and landing NCERC on the campus of SIUE. Our country needed a place that filled the gap between desktop research and application. The NCERC has filled that gap while partnering with government, industry and interest groups.” 

CLICK on the pictures to the left to check out articles from NCERC's opening ceremony in 2003!

(Top): Belleville News Democrat, September 23, 2003

(Bottom): St. Louis Post Dispatch, September 23, 2003

NCERC is looking for a Visiting Research Fellow with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field to work closely with our research and engineering staff on projects in our pilot- and demonstration-scale laboratories.

Examples of tasks include:

On August 11, 2023, NCERC will host the Green Drives Conference and Expo at SIUE. The Green Drives Edwardsville event is the first down-state event hosted by the Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation now that they have expanded state-wide. We'll be sharing more in the future so stay tuned for the opportunity to register.

Successful transformation to the bioeconomy requires cross-disciplinary fluency informed by robust guiding principles on what it means to be sustainable. ALAKAʻI (Applied Life Science Academy: Knowledge Advancing Industry) is creating short, non-credit educational modules that address these needs so bioeconomy professionals can be more effective leaders.

Indigenous Hawaiian and Pacific Island perspectives on sustainability are increasingly informative for addressing climate change while enhancing communities and improving standards of living. ALAKAʻI trainings in technical, business, and social considerations for building the bioeconomy will be complemented by these perspectives, including the ways of waʻa (canoe), voyaging, and societies that endured for centuries in isolated island environments.

NCERC is part of the planning committee and we will have two sessions on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi in 2023:

We will also have cultural and sustainability immersion activities over the intervening weekend. Professionals from all level within their organizations are encouraged to attend. For more information, including hotel block reservations, please sign up for our distribution list at bioecon@hawaii.edu!

With support from an industry partner who has provided woody biomass samples from California almond and walnut orchards, NCERC is in the process of scaling up a woody biomass to biofuel project in January and February 2023. We anticipate performing multiple 5L runs and hope to scale up to 100L by the end of February. Dr. Mingjun Ma, NCERC's postdoctoral research fellow is leading the project. This is a critical project for gathering data for NCERC's proprietary low cost/low carbon pretreatment method for cellulosic feedstock to biofuel conversion.

Thanks to the support of the Renewable Fuels Association, NCERC is completing a project on the quantification of ethyl carbamate in DDGS sampled from 33 US ethanol plants. As of February 2, 2023, we're still in need of 8 samples from ethanol plants, and if you'd like to contribute a sample, please contact Jackie at jhayes@ethanolresearch.com.

For multiple years, NCERC has been developing and validating a proprietary method to accurately quantify the converted fraction of corn kernel fiber via in situ fermentation. We're currently in the process of running the method on industry samples and hope to present the results at industry conferences in 2023.

Virtual

January 4

St. Louis, MO

January 10

Edwardsville, IL

January 12

Edwardsville, IL

February 2

Edwardsville, IL

February 14

Carbondale, IL

February 15-16

St. Louis, MO

February 23

Orlando, FL

February 28 - March 2

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