EPA updates guidance on corn kernel fiber-based cellulosic ethanol

In Washington, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its updated guidance on what methods should be used to determine the cellulosic converted fraction of corn kernel fiber in the production of cellulosic ethanol.

In its guidance, EPA proposes three potential ways companies might satisfy registration requirements for corn fiber, including:

·      Adoption of the DOE/NREL method,

·      Demonstration of reasonable accuracy by returning comparable cellulose values to the NIST reference materials using a non-voluntary consensus standards body (non-VCSB) method, or

·      Use of advanced analytical techniques; e.g. mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), as identified by DOE/NREL in their analytical method and validation.