Corn Bale Deconstruction Using Physical Techniques for Improved Anatomical Separation

Corn stover, a mixture of various anatomical fraction of corn plant, often comes with introduced inorganics from the harvest and collection process. The variability of corn stover can be reduced with a combination of size reduction (knife mill, hammer mill etc.) and size separation (air classification, sieving etc.). The combined process, incorporating different air speed and sieving, can generate a fraction of stem & cob each with 75% purity and yield. The physical techniques can also reduce ash content by removing (30%) introduced inorganics. Moreover, low ash content (<7%) husk, sheath and leaves were also generated. The separation of these fractions enables fraction specific processes including reduced cost of pretreatment and fiber-based coproducts.