Many studies show that the net energy balance for ethanol production using corn as the biofuel feedstock is not as good when compared to sugarcane or lignocellulosic biomass. Net energy balance is the difference between the energy output obtained from utilizing the biofuel and the energy input used to produce the biofuel. The higher the value, the better the net energy balance of the feedstock. Recently, scientists from the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis (United States), reported the use of thermophilic anaerobic digestion as a way to improve the net energy balance of ethanol. The present study evaluated the “utilization of thin stillage (a major byproduct of the dry-mill corn grain-to-ethanol process) in laboratory-scale thermophilic anaerobic sequencing batch reactors for conversion to methane“. Anaerobic treatment of the stillage generates methane which can be used as fuel for electrical power generation in the production plant. The net energy balance is improved by the additional ‘fuel energy” obtained from methane fermentation. With the augmentation of cobalt as growth factor to the process, the methane production potential of the stillage was found to be 0.254 L of methane for every gram of organic matter removed (measured as COD, or Chemical Oxygen Demand). Results also showed that “methane generation translates to a 51% reduction of natural gas consumption at a conventional dry mill, which improves the net energy balance ratio from 1.26 to 1.70“. Details of the study are published in the journal, Environmental Science and Technology (URL above)..