The effects of high-powered ultrasonics on the conversion of sugary-2 maize (Zea Mays L.) to fermentable sugars were studied in this research. Ground sugary-2 maize mash was sonicated at 20 kHz and varying amplitudes (192-320 mu m(peak-to-peak)) for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 40 s. Stargen (TM) 0 0 1 enzyme, which contained both alpha-amylase and gluco-amylase was added to the samples following sonication to hydrolyze the starch into fermentable sugars. There was a 3-fold increase in sugar conversion rate of the sonicated samples in comparison with the control (unsonicated) samples. The ultrasonic relative net energy gain in the majority of the experimental design space was greater than 1.0. This indicates that the released of stored energy (output energy) from additional sugar released was greater than the dissipated ultrasonic energy (input energy), thus making ultrasonics an efficient treatment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) pictures revealed that the sugary starch was partially gelatinized during sonication. This observation was confirmed by polarized-light microscopic images, where a deformed "Maltese cross" was found. Swelling power for samples sonicated at 40 s reached 5.0 g/g while samples treated in conventional heating reached 4.0 g/g at 4 min treatment. It was also found that swelling power in the ultrasonicated sample initiated as quickly as 5 s and increased rapidly. These results are evident that ultrasonics can enhance swelling and gelatinization compared to conventional heating. As the saccharification time increased, a model was formulated to fit the sugar release curve. The findings indicated that there was a significant effect on enzymatic activity when enzymes were added to the sample during sonication. Additionally, jet cooking and ultrasonication obtained similar theoretical starch conversion results after 3 h saccharification. Thus, it is evident that ultrasonication could be considered a potential alternative to jet cooking. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.