The 2021 Fuel Ethanol Workshop was a busy week for NCERC's Director of Research Dr. Yan Zhang and Director of Business Development & Client Relations Jackie Pohlman. Between four presentations and three moderating slots, NCERC's leadership team had seven stage appearances and also participated in the FEW Exhibition.

Pohlman showcased NCERC's role in the ethanol industry via her presentation, "Surveying the Role that Research has Played in Advancing the Frontier of Corn Biorefining" at Ethanol 101.

After months of research and data collection, Dr. Yan Zhang presented the NCERC Research Team's findings via three presentations:

In addition to participating in the conference, Pohlman also hosted the RFA Young Professionals Network's first in-person event on Wednesday where over 30 YPN members participated and networked with their peers in the industry.

The selected individual will assist the NCERC’s Director of Research and Director of Fermentation in the design of self-initiated research projects as well as projects that fulfill commitments made to external funding sources such as sponsored projects and grants. The Fellow will also assist the Director of Business Development and Client Relations, as well as the Project Management Engineer, with the onboarding and project design of contractual research projects with companies from the private sector.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. (ABD candidates may be considered) in chemical engineering, agricultural engineering, biological sciences or a related field. Experience with biofuels is strongly recommended. Additional technical skills needed include:

-Capable to work independently;

-Ability to design experiments and a strong background in statistics;

-Technical knowledge to troubleshoot analytical equipment;

-Excellent written and oral skills and attention to details.

Application Process - Applicants should submit resume, cover letter, transcripts, and three professional references to:

Barb Randle

NCERC at SIUE

400 University Park Drive

Edwardsville, IL 62025

Completed application packages can also be emailed to: brandle@siue.edu. Please use pdf format when emailing documents.

The Visiting Research Fellow assists scientific supervisors to design and execute research projects. This position will supervise graduate students and student workers to follow protocols and SOPs, and help with data processing and presentation. The successful candidate will run various testing methods and lab trials to help with research projects, as well as conduct troubleshooting and maintenance. This position works with plant engineers and operators to run scale up trials, and assists with contractual projects when needed.

Applicants should hold a B.S. or M.S. in Chemistry, Biology, or Environmental Science.

A minimum of 3 years of lab experience is also required.

The Visiting Research Fellowship program is for recent graduates of a bachelor’s or master’s program.

Application Process - Please submit letter of application, current vitae, and transcripts (unofficial is fine for application), and professional references to:

Barb Randle

NCERC at SIUE

400 University Park Drive

Edwardsville, IL 62025

Or email: brandle@siue.edu

In July, NCERC contributed to a proposal that was submitted August 3 to BioMADE, a member-driven organization dedicated to enabling domestic bioindustrial manufacturing at all scales, and included contributions from NCERC for an Education and Workforce Development proposal that would utilize NCERC's expertise to contribute to a bioindustrial manufacturing curriculum.

The team for the proposal is led by University of Hawai'i, Hilo and would establish "ALAKA’I" (Aloha Life-Science Academy; Knowledge Advancing Industry), a project with with a multi-phase strategy to develop a Hawaiian academy to advance the bioindustrial manufacturing workforce to benefit rural America, and then disseminate this program for further implementation at national scale.

We will report back on the feedback from the reviewers on this novel Education and Workforce Development proposal.

Following very positive feedback from the audience at FEW, Dr. Zhang's presentation related to the comparison of running 1G and 1.5G with corn to ethanol production is shared below.

Based on our lab work, we strongly believe the industrial 1.5G processing, which is to dose cellulase when we inoculate regular C6 yeast after starch hydrolysis, will help to improve ethanol yield with a majority part as cellulosic ethanol, and will help to improve protein level in DDGS and oil separation.

Now, NCERC is reaching out to and working with enzyme providers to use our lab scale trial and our proprietary analytical testing method to gather statistically and scientifically sound data to quantify when using cellulase for 1.5G processing.

Interested parties should reach out to Dr. Zhang directly: yzhang@ethanolresearch.com.

Since completing the propagation of a single cell protein (aka yeast) for fish feed in April, NCERC's laboratory student workers have dried and milled the material in preparation for it to be sent to our fish feeding-trial partners at the University of Idaho Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI). The results of the scale up trial were showcased at the 2021 Fuel Ethanol Workshop and the material was recently shipped to the ARI for use in an upcoming feeding trial.

NCERC's laboratory research team has been working on an in-situ fermentation of corn kernel fiber with intentions to produce high-protein DDGS for use in an aquaculture feeding trial. The early results of this study were showcased at FEW and work will continue this fall with the support of students from SIUE. Thank you to IL Corn for funding this exciting research!

Work on hemp to biofuel conversion will continue this fall through funding provided to NCERC Director of Fermentation Dr. Jie Dong from the SIUE COVID 19 Assigned Research Time.

This month's featured employee spotlight is our Executive Director, John Caupert. John has led NCERC's team since October 2006 and oversees all fiscal and physical operations of NCERC. In his role, he represents NCERC in negotiations and collaborations with industry, academia, government and trade associations and a key area of responsibility is direct engagement with elected officials and their staff, at both the state and federal levels.

According to John, something he is proud of is leading NCERC from being primarily funded through public support (Federal and State Appropriations) to being primarily funded through private sector contractual research.

New Orleans, LA

July 12

Des Moines, IA

July 13 - 15

St. Louis, MO

July 20 - 21

Minneapolis, MN

August 18 - 20

NCERC Facility

August 24

Decatur, IL

August 31 - September 2

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