Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound platform technology to increase bio-ethanol production

在未来50年内，我们将耗尽超过50%的化石燃料储存。因此，我们必须开始开发太阳能、风能和生物燃料等替代性可再生能源。最广泛认可的生物燃料来源之一是生物乙醇，这是一种可再生生物能源，可以与石油混合，以产生用于传统设备的生物燃料混合物，而无需修改。不幸的是，目前的生物乙醇生产工艺要么效率低下，导致净能量收益低，要么侵犯了其他行业，如食品或农业行业。一个令人鼓舞的解决方案是使用木质纤维素生物质作为生物乙醇的来源。这笔NSERC赠款将用于支持一家加拿大生物技术公司（IntelligentNano Inc.）和阿尔伯塔大学（UofA）的团队，共同设计一个超声波系统，以提高生物乙醇的生产。 UofA团队的初步实验结果表明，低强度脉冲超声可以增加纤维素酶的数量，从而将木质纤维素生物质向生物乙醇的转化率提高高达40%。研究内容包括：（i）设计一个使用者友善的超音波发生器介面;（ii）设计一个可自动校正的超音波感测器;（iii）在超音波感测器与感测器之间建立无线回馈;及（iv）测试整个超音波发酵系统的效能，并取得加拿大标准协会对我们设计的商业用途的认可。这笔资金将使IntelligentNano Inc.来使用UofA开发的独特超声波技术。另一方面，这笔赠款还将培训UofA学生加拿大生物技术产业所需的基本技能。 两个团队还将共同开发发酵协议，用于未来的工业放大应用。该项目将提高加拿大在世界舞台上生物燃料研究和商业化领域的兼容性。

We will have depleted over 50% of our fossil fuel storage in the next 50 years. Therefore, we must begin developing alternative, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and bio-fuel. One of the most widely recognized bio-fuel sources is bio-ethanol, which is a type of renewable bio-energy and can be blended with petroleum to create a bio-fuel blend used in conventional equipment without modification. Unfortunately, current bio-ethanol production processes are either inefficient resulting in low net-energy gains, or are infringing on other industries, such as the food or agricultural industry. An encouraging solution is the use of lignocellulosic biomass as a source of bio-ethanol. This NSERC grant will be used to support the collaboration between a Canadian biotechnology company (IntelligentNano Inc.) and the University of Alberta (UofA) teams to jointly designing an ultrasound system to enhance the production of bio-ethanol. The UofA team has preliminary experimental results showing that the low-intensity pulsed ultrasound can increase the number of cellulase enzymes and thus increase the lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol conversion by up to 40%. The proposed research activities includes: (i) designing a user-friendly interface for ultrasound generator; (ii) designing an ultrasound sensor for auto-calibration; (iii) constructing wireless feedback between the transducer and sensor; and (iv) testing the performance of the whole ultrasound fermentation system, and obtaining the Canadian standard association approval of our design for commercial use. This funding will enable IntelligentNano Inc. to access the unique ultrasound technology developed at the UofA. On the other hand, the grant will also train UofA students essential skill sets needed by Canadian biotechnology industry. Both teams will also jointly develop fermentation protocols for future industrial scale-up applications. This project will enhance Canadian compatibility in the area of bio-fuel research and commercialization in world stage.