A Shocking Ethanol Enhancer

Ethanol Producer Magazine March 2009
By Anna Austin

Squeezing more ethanol from a bushel of corn is one way for an ethanol producer to stay on top of his game. California-based OptiSwitch Technology has developed a process that could increase ethanol production by 5 percent or more, using high-power silicon switches to apply voltage to the cell walls of the corn kernel.

How does a company that makes high-performance semiconductor switches make an ethanol plant more efficient? OptiSwitch Technology Corp. developed a reliable, solid-state switch (a component that can break an electrical circuit) for critical military applications with the help of some internal funding and a $10 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense. OptiSwitch’s specialty is producing high-power, short-duration electrical systems, or “pulsed power,” which use high voltages—10,000 to more than 100,000 volts—and high currents—10,000 to more than 100,000 amperes—for durations of hundreds of microseconds or less.

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