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

在接下来的50年里，我们将耗尽50%以上的化石燃料储存。因此，我们必须开始开发替代的可再生能源，如太阳能、风能和生物燃料。最广为人知的生物燃料来源之一是生物乙醇，它是一种可再生的生物能源，可以与石油混合，在不经修饰的情况下创建用于传统设备的生物燃料混合物。不幸的是，目前的生物乙醇生产过程要么效率低下，导致净能量收益较低，要么正在侵犯其他行业，如食品或农业。一个令人鼓舞的解决办法是使用木质纤维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(智能纳米公司)之间的合作。和艾伯塔大学(UofA)合作，共同设计一种超声波系统，以提高生物乙醇的生产。 UofA团队的初步实验结果表明，低强度脉冲超声波可以增加纤维素酶的数量，从而将木质纤维素生物质转化为生物乙醇的效率提高高达40%。拟议的研究活动包括：(I)为超声波发生器设计用户友好的界面；(Ii)设计用于自动校准的超声传感器；(Iii)在换能器和传感器之间构建无线反馈；以及(Iv)测试整个超声波发酵系统的性能，并获得加拿大标准协会的批准，将我们的设计用于商业用途。这笔资金将使SmarentNano Inc.能够获得由美国大学开发的独特的超声波技术。另一方面，该助学金还将培训美银美林的学生加拿大生物技术行业所需的基本技能。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。该项目将加强加拿大在生物燃料研究和商业化领域在世界舞台上的兼容性。

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.