Iowa State may not seem like ground zero for cheaper fuel prices, but one professor is trying to change that.

Brent Shanks, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, is part of a research team trying to make the production of ethanol fuel from corn more efficient.

“Only 80 percent of a corn kernel is fermentable starch,” Shanks said. “We’ve got to find something to do with that other 20 percent.”

That other 20 percent is known as distiller’s dried grain solubles, and is sold as cattle feed because of its protein content. But recent increases in ethanol production have created a flood of dried grain solubles on the market, depressing its price as far as 2 cents per pound in some areas.

“Enzymes already exist that can break this down to fermentable sugars,” Shanks said. “But they are expensive.”

Instead, Shanks is testing acid-based chemical catalysts to create one that acts like an enzyme. Finding a cost-effective way to ferment the remaining portion of corn could increase ethanol production by 10 to 15 percent, he said.

“Ethanol is already cost-competitive with gasoline,” he said. “In fact, we’re looking at an ethanol shortage very soon.”

Federal legislation requiring an increase in plant-based fuels is causing high demand for ethanol, and Shanks said producers might not be able to keep up.

“There is a projection that Iowa will actually have to import corn this year,” he said. “That’s good news for corn growers, since prices should go up.”

Jason Bootsma, graduate student in chemical and biological engineering, is also working on the project.

“The big-picture benefit is reduced dependence on foreign oil,” Bootsma said.

He said interest in biorenewable fuels has increased dramatically in recent years.

“Chemical engineering grew up a petroleum-based field,” he said.

“Now you go to a chemical engineering conference, and the biorenewable session is the one that’s standing room only.”

Politics has played a part in the growing interest in the field, from federal legislation to President Bush’s State of the Union address.

“For the president to mention ethanol, being from a petroleum business, really got a lot of people’s attention,” Bootsma said.

More interest in biorenewable fuels has meant more funding for projects such as this one.

“You go where the funding goes,” said Bootsma, whose first project was trying to convert corn stalks to ethanol. “This project has a better chance of going somewhere, of being incorporated into reality.”

Bootsma said the growth of the industry will make it easy for him to find a job working with ethanol or biodiesel.

“I’d like to stay in Iowa if I can,” he said. “But the big plant builders are in South Dakota and Kansas.”

The future of the ethanol industry lies in products other than corn, such as switchgrass, Shanks said.

“This project’s grand plan is to be just a step along the way,” Shanks said. “We are laying the groundwork for the next generation of ethanol plants.”

Bootsma agreed that the project is an intermediate step.

“Eventually we’ll run out of corn,” Bootsma said. “We’ll probably go to switchgrass, which could realistically replace petroleum fuel.”