Purpose

Ethanol production has grown more than 570% over the past twenty years. Projected is that 84% of ethanol produced by many new plants will be from farmer owned facilities. A majority of these are the dry-grind type.

The growing of dry-grind ethanol facilities will increase the production of distiller's grain (DG) in North America. Projected production of DG is expected to double from 3.5 million metric tons in 2000 to 7 million metric tons by 2005.

The primary DG market will remain feed for dairy, beef, poultry and swine. Beef, swine and poultry uses are expected to increase.

Marketing of distillers' grain products is hampered by inconsistencies in chemical and physical properties. This research team proposes to overcome this obstacle by creating standards, and increasing the marketability of these products.

Objectives

1. Determine the potential increase in value through quality that could be created by DG standards and uniform measurement methods. The tasks associated with this objective include surveying DG products for physical and compositional characteristics to provide a baseline of data, which will serve to assign value to quality
2. Develop measurement methods and protocols to support DG standards. Quality standards require rapid and accessible testing procedures. In this research objective, it is proposed to develop procedures to address this need using near infrared and physical technologies.

Impact

A standardized product or measuring protocol will enhance marketability and acceptability because end-users will be able to purchase DG with a specific quality standard as well as be able to more efficiently utilize DG as a feed component.

The long-term goal is to develop methods and guidelines that will aid farmers and bioprocessors in obtaining high value for agriculture commodities and products.