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Just outside, Chen devises a variety of methods to chemically treat bits of corn plants, part of his work in developing a novel ethanol synthesis process that can actually create edible side-products like corn oil.
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This wine press, which can press 660 pounds of grapes at one time, will help professor of enology Christian Butzke develop wines from new grape varieties that grow well in many parts of Indiana. |
Though vastly different, both projects show promise to create business in Indiana, where corn and wine-grapes grow side-by-side.
Butzke and his colleagues, who form the Purdue Wine Grape Action Team, have helped many Hoosiers start their own vineyards and have also organized the nation's largest wine competition, boosting the reputation of the Hoosier libation. The team, including Bruce Bordelon, a professor of viticulture (grape growing) in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, helps growers select appropriate grapes and become acquainted with the many tasks necessary to bring a crop to harvest: planting, waiting patiently for the vines to grow, shoot positioning, cluster-thinning, applying herbicides and pesticides, and much more. The team then helps people learn how to make wine—a long and involved process with its own science and art.
Chen is also trying to bring his ideas to fruition, creating food out of a process known only for the fuel it yields.
"The current processes for creating ethanol yield co-products that are only suitable for animal feeds, like distillers' grains and gluten meal," Chen says. "So I thought, 'Why not change the procedure to make more valuable co-products?'" He is doing just that. After pre-treating the corn with commercially available enzymes, he separates the grain's non-starch components with conventional equipment, which he can then process into valuable co-products like antioxidant-enriched corn oil, food-grade corn fiber, glutein and zein, a protein that can be made into a special kind of biodegradable plastic.
Chen formed a start-up company, Bio Processing Technology, to commercialize his brainchild. According to Chen, the method could produce more ethanol per bushel of corn than is currently produced and wouldn't emit as much pollution or bad odors.
Having a gas
Although Rich Linton, professor of food science, does not deal with wine, he nevertheless finds his work intoxicating.
He and his colleague Mark Morgan, also a professor of food science, are investigating the use of chlorine dioxide gas to kill pathogens on produce, fresh fruits and vegetables. This would be a large step up from current technologies, which mainly involve washing and scrubbing, and cannot completely rid a product of a pathogen like E. coli, Linton says.
"As for using this gas as a disinfectant, I would say that in my 13 years of doing research, it is 10,000 to 100,000 times more effective than any process I have seen," Linton says.
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