Abstract: An improved pretreatment of cellulosic feedstocks, to enable economical ethanol production by enzyme treatment. The improved pretreatment comprises choosing either a feedstock with a ratio of arabinoxylan to total nonstarch polysaccharides (AX/NSP) of greater than about 0.39, or a selectively bred feedstock on the basis of an increased ratio of AX/NSP over a starting feedstock material, and reacting at conditions that disrupt the fiber structure and hydrolyze a portion of the cellulose and hemicellulose. This pretreatment produces a superior substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis, by enabling the production of more glucose with less cellulose enzyme than any known procedures. This pretreatment is uniquely suited to ethanol production. Preferred feedstocks with an AX/NSP level greater than about 0.39 include varieties of oat hulls and corn cobs.

Abstract: An improved pretreatment of cellulosic feedstocks, to enable economical ethanol production by enzyme treatment. The improved pretreatment comprises choosing either a feedstock with a ratio of arabinoxylan to total nonstarch polysaccharides (AX/NSP) of greater than about 0.39, or a selectively bred feedstock on the basis of an increased ratio of AX/NSP over a starting feedstock material, and reacting at conditions that disrupt the fiber structure and hydrolyze a portion of the cellulose and hemicellulose. This pretreatment produces a superior substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis, by enabling the production of more glucose with less cellulase enzyme than any known procedures. This pretreatment is uniquely suited to ethanol production. Preferred feedstocks with an AX/NSP level greater than about 0.39 include varieties of oat hulls and corn cobs.

Abstract: A velocity meter attachable to a baseball bat or other hand-held swingable sports implement to indicate swing velocity. The meter is provided with a ratchet wheel rotatable within a case whose cover has a window exposing a pointer on the upper face of the wheel. Affixed to the under face of the wheel at an eccentric position thereon is an inertia weight. The teeth of the wheel are engaged by a retractable pawl which permits counterclockwise motion of the wheel but prevents clockwise motion except when the pawl is retracted to permit meter resetting.

Abstract: This invention provides a process for producing ethanol from a D-sugar in a continuous aerobic environment using a flocculant respiration-deficient mutant of Saccharomyces uvarum in a single stage fermentor with a cell settling tank and cell recycle, at a productivity of more than 50 grams ethanol per liter fermentor volume per hour. The process comprises (a) innoculating a fermentation zone with a respiration-deficient mutant of Saccharomyces uvarum; (b) feeding a mixture of a D-sugar, a nitrogen source, a vitamin source and a mineral source into the fermentation zone in the presence of oxygen, and (c) fermenting the D-sugar mixture for a sufficiently long period of time to yield an ethanol product. In the process, the yeast are allowed to settle for a sufficiently long period of time and recycled to the fermentation zone to increase ethanol productivity. The preferred D-sugar that may be used in the present process to produce ethanol, is D-glucose.