Abstract: Dry-Grind Ethanol Production from Corn

Ethanol creates new markets for corn, provides new jobs in rural areas, reduces foreign oil imports, and burns cleaner than gasoline. These advantages have driven growth of the ethanol industry by more than 20% per year since 2001. Production should exceed 4.5 billion gallons in 2006 and utilize over 1.5 billion bu. of corn (about 15% of the US crop.)

Pioneer’s hybrid screening program has shown that some hybrids are clearly superior in the amount of ethanol produced per bushel of grain. Pioneer is leading the industry in developing analytical tools for determining ethanol yield of grain, identifying hybrids with the highest ethanol potential, and developing new hybrids with desirable grain traits for dry-grind ethanol production. This article will provide more details about the ethanol industry in the US, the dry-grind method of ethanol production from corn, and Pioneer's efforts to develop and characterize corn hybrids for this purpose.

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