Alcohol production using sonication

• US 20050118692A1
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FCStone Carbon LLC (StoneX Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ultraforce Technology, LLC
• Inventors: Krohn, Bradley, Snodgrass, Jonathan D., Kinley, Michael T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,101,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/161
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 21/12 for producing fuels or solvents C12M21/04 takes precedence; liquid carbonaceous fuels C10L1/00, solid fuels C10L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 35/04 Mechanical means, e.g. sonic waves, stretching forces, pressure or shear stimuli
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 1/066 by physical methods
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 13/00 Treatment of microorganisms or enzymes with electrical or wave energy, e.g. magnetism, sonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 7/06 Ethanol, i.e. non-beverage
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 7/16 Butanols
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 7/18 polyhydric
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 7/24 containing a carbonyl group
• CPC Class Codes: C12P 7/56 Lactic acid
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 50/10 Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel

Abstract

A system and method comprising one or more transducers and an alcohol production facility having a liquid medium processing stream, the alcohol production facility adapted for use with the one or more transducers is provided. In one embodiment, the one or more transducers apply sonication to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations. In one embodiment, the alcohol production facility is an ethanol production facility. In one embodiment, the ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process, modified dry grind process or wet milling process. The systems and methods of the present invention utilize sonication at the frequencies and intensities required on an industrial scale to reduce the production cost of alcohol, such as ethanol, by improving alcohol yield per bushel, reducing processing times for higher throughput, reducing operating costs, and increasing the marketability of co-products, among other benefits.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more transducers; and

an alcohol production facility having a liquid medium processing stream, the alcohol production facility adapted for use with the one or more transducers.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more transducers apply sonication to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the alcohol production facility is an ethanol production facility.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes grain as a starting material.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the grain is selected from the group consisting of sorghum, wheat, barley, oats and rice.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the liquid medium processing stream is selected from the group consisting of heavy steep water, uncooked slurry, cooked mash, liquefied mash, thin stillage, wet cake and whole stillage.

7. The system of claim 2 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process and the liquid medium processing stream is an uncooked slurry, wherein application of the sonication to the uncooked slurry eliminates a jet cooking step.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process which includes a fermentation step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream prior to the fermentation step in one or more locations.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the liquid medium processing stream further comprises heavy steep water, cooked mash and liquefied mash, wherein the sonication is also applied to one or more of the heavy steep water, cooked mash or liquefied mash.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the process is a dry grind ethanol production process and the liquid medium processing stream further includes whole stillage, thin stillage and wet cake, wherein the sonication is also applied to one or more of the whole stillage, thin stillage or wet cake.

11. The system of claim 2 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process having a jet cooking step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in a location selected from the group consisting of prior to the jet cooking step, during the jet cooking step, after the jet cooking step and any combination thereof.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process has a non-jet cooking step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in a location selected from the group consisting of prior to the non-jet cooking step, during the non-jet cooking step, after the non-jet cooking step and any combination thereof.

13. The system of claim 3 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the dry grind process has a milling step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the milling step.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the dry grind process has a milling step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the milling step.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the dry grind process has a milling step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the milling step.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.

23. The system of claim 13 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.

24. The system of claim 11 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.

25. The system of claim 12 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.

26. The system of claim 15 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein sonication is applied to the whole stillage.

27. The system of claim 16 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.

28. The system of claim 17 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.

29. The system of claim 20 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.

30. The system of claim 23 wherein the sonication breaks down complex proteins present in the whole stillage to produce proteins having improved digestive bioavailability, further wherein animal feed produced from the whole stillage contains the proteins having the improved digestive bioavailability.

31. The system of claim 23 wherein the sonication increases surface area of components in the whole stillage resulting in reduced drying time for the components.

32. The system of claim 13 wherein the dry grind process produces thin stillage and a wet cake, further wherein the sonication is applied to one or more of the thin stillage or wet cake.

33. The system of claim 3 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a modified dry grind process.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the modified dry process includes a soaking, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the soaking.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the sonication is followed by a degerm step, a defiber step or a fine grind step.

36. The system of claim 33 wherein the modified dry process includes a degerm step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the degerm step.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the sonication is followed by a defiber step or a fine grind step.

38. The system of claim 3 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a wet milling process.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the wet mill process produces heavy steep water, further wherein the sonication is applied at least to the heavy steep water.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the sonication is high-powered ultrasonic energy.

41. The system of claim 38 wherein the wet mill process includes a first grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the first grinding.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the wet mill process includes a second grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the second grinding.

43. The system of claim 38 wherein the wet mill process includes a fiber separation step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the fiber separation step.

44. The system of claim 43 wherein the wet mill process includes a second grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the second grinding.

45. The system of claim 2 wherein the one or more transducers each have an active element made from a smart material.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the smart material is selected from the group consisting of piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, piezoceramics and magnetostrictive materials.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the magnetostrictive material is selected from the group consisting of ferrous metals, vanadium permendur, metallic glass, nickel, terbium, dysprosium, gallium and combinations thereof.

48. The system of claim 45 wherein at least one of the one or more transducers is a high-powered transducer generating about three (3) to ten (10) kW.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein the high-powered transducer operates at a frequency of about ten (10) to 20 kHz.

50. The system of claim 49 wherein the high-powered transducer is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer operating at a frequency of at least about 17 kHz.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein the high-powered ultrasonic transducer operates at a frequency of between 19.5 and 20.5 kHz.

52. The system of claim 45 wherein at least one of the one or more transducers generates between about one (1) and three (3) kW of power.

53. The system of claim 45 wherein each of the one or more transducers operate for no more than ten minutes in one or more locations of the liquid medium processing stream.

54. The system of claim 2 wherein ethanol yield is improved by one (1) to ten (10) % with the use of sonication.

55. A method comprising applying sonication to a liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations of an alcohol production process.

56. The method of claim 55 wherein the alcohol production process is an ethanol production process.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein the ethanol production process utilizes grain as a starting material.

58. The method of claim 57 wherein the grain is selected from the group consisting of sorghum, wheat, barley, oats and rice.

59. The method of claim 55 wherein the liquid medium processing stream is selected from the group consisting of heavy steep water, uncooked slurry, cooked mash, liquefied mash, thin stillage, wet cake and whole stillage.

60. The method of claim 55 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process and the liquid medium processing stream is an uncooked slurry, wherein application of the sonication to the uncooked slurry eliminates a jet cooking step.

61. The method of claim 55 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process which includes a fermentation step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream prior to the fermentation step in one or more locations.

62. The method of claim 60 wherein the liquid medium processing stream further includes heavy steep water, cooked mash and liquefied mash wherein the sonication is also applied to one or more of the heavy steep water, cooked mash, or liquefied mash.

63. The method of claim 62 wherein the liquid medium processing stream further includes thin stillage, wet cake and whole stillage, wherein the sonication is also applied to one or more of the whole stillage, wet cake and thin stillage.

64. The method of claim 55 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process which includes a fermentation step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream prior to the fermentation step in one or more locations.

65. The method of claim 55 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process having a jet cooking step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in a location selected from the group consisting of prior to the jet cooking step, during the jet cooking step, after the jet cooking step and any combination thereof.

66. The method of claim 56 wherein the ethanol production process is a dry grind process.

67. The method of claim 66 wherein the dry grind process has a milling step and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the milling step.

68. The method of claim 66 wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the liquefaction step

69. The method of claim 66 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component and the sonication is applied at least to the whole stillage.

70. The method of claim 69 wherein the sonication breaks down complex proteins present in the whole stillage to produce proteins having improved digestive bioavailability, further wherein animal feed produced from the whole stillage contains the proteins having improved digestive bioavailability.

71. The method of claim 69 wherein the sonication increases surface area of components in the whole stillage resulting in reduced drying time for the components.

72. The method of claim 66 wherein the dry grind process produces a thin stillage product and a wet cake product further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least to a product selected from the group consisting of the thin stillage product, the wet cake product and combinations thereof.

73. The method of claim 56 wherein the ethanol production process is a modified dry grind process.

74. The method of claim 73 wherein the modified dry process includes a soaking, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the soaking.

75. The method of claim 74 wherein the application of the sonication is followed by a degerm step, a defiber step or a fine grind step.

76. The method of claim 74 wherein the modified dry process includes a degerm step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the degerm step.

77. The method of claim 76 wherein the sonicaton is followed by a defiber step or a fine grind step.

78. The method of claim 56 wherein the ethanol production process is a wet milling process.

79. The method of claim 78 wherein the wet mill process produces heavy steep water, further wherein the sonication is applied at least to the heavy steep water.

80. The method of claim 79 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more high-powered ultrasonic transducers.

81. The method of claim 78 wherein the wet mill process includes a first grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the first grinding.

82. The method of claim 81 wherein the wet mill process includes a second grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the second grinding.

83. The method of claim 78 wherein the wet mill process includes a fiber separation step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the fiber separation step.

84. The method of claim 55 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more transducers having an active element made from a smart material.

85. The method of claim 84 wherein the smart material is selected from the group consisting of piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, piezoceramics and magnetostrictive materials.

86. The method of claim 85 wherein the magnetostrictive material is selected from the group consisting of ferrous metals, vanadium permendur, metallic glass, nickel, terbium, dysprosium, gallium and combinations thereof.

87. The method of claim 55 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more high-powered transducers.

88. The method of claim 87 wherein at least one of the one or more transducers is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer generating about three (3) to ten (10) kW.

89. The method of claim 88 wherein the high-powered transducer operates at a frequency of about ten (10) to 20 kHz.

90. The method of claim 89 wherein the high-powered transducer is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer operating at a frequency of at least about 17 kHz.

91. The method of claim 90 wherein the high-powered ultrasonic transducer operates at a frequency of between about 19.5 and 20.5 kHz.

92. The method of claim 86 wherein at least one of the one or more transducers generates between about one (1) and three (3) kW of power.

93. The method of claim 87 wherein each of the one or more transducers operate for no more than ten minutes in one or more locations of the liquid medium processing stream.

94. The method of claim 55 wherein ethanol yield is improved by one (1) to ten (10) % with the use of sonication.

95. An animal feed containing proteins having improved digestive bio-availability, the animal feed produced as a by-product of an alcohol production process utilizing sonication in one or more locations of a liquid medium processing stream.

96. The animal feed of claim 95 wherein the alcohol production process is an ethanol production process.

97. The animal feed of claim 96 wherein the ethanol production process is a dry grind process.

98. A method comprising:

converting contaminating microorganisms to nonviable microorganisms, the contaminating microorganisms present in an alcohol production stream exposed to sonication.

99. The method of claim 98 wherein the alcohol production stream is an ethanol production stream.

100. The method of claim 99 wherein the ethanol production stream is exposed to the sonication in one or more locations prior to a fermentation step in a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process

101. A method comprising:

denaturing transgenic proteins, DNA and RNA, the transgenic proteins, DNA and RNA present in an alcohol production stream exposed to sonication.

102. The method of claim 101 wherein the alcohol production stream is an ethanol production stream.

103. The method of claim 102 wherein the ethanol production stream is exposed to the sonication in one or more locations in a dry grind, a modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production process.

104. The method of claim 103 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream with a high-powered ultrasonic transducer.

105. A system comprising:

one or more high-powered transducers; and

an ethanol production facility having a corn-based liquid medium processing stream, the ethanol production facility adapted for use with the one or more high-powered transducers wherein sonication is applied to the corn-based liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations.

106. The system of claim 105 wherein the processing stream is flowing at about 189 to 1514 liters/min (about 50 to 400 gpm) and the sonication is applied to the processing stream at a frequency of about ten (10) to 20 kHz and a power of about three (3) to ten (10) kW for up to ten (10) minutes in each of the one or more locations.

107. The system of claim 106 further comprising one or more flow cells in series or parallel, wherein the liquid medium processing stream is directed through the one or more flow cells, further wherein one of the one or more transducers is placed into each of the one or more flow cells.

108. The system of claim 107 wherein each of the one or more transducers uses a cascade horn and sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream for less than five minutes in each of the one or more locations.

109. The system of claim 108 wherein each of the one or more transducers has more than one horn.

110. The system of claim 106 wherein the frequency is between about 19.5 to 20.5 kHz.

111. The system of claim 110 wherein the power is about ten (10) kW.

112. The system of claim 105 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a wet mill process and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least before or during a fiber washing step.

113. The system of claim 105 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least anywhere prior to fermentation.

114. The system of claim 112 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream before or after a jet cooking step.

115. A method comprising applying sonication to a corn-based liquid medium processing stream in an ethanol production process with one or more high-powered transducers in one or more locations.

116. The method of claim 115 wherein each of the one or more high-powered transducers operate at about three (3) to ten (10) kW of power and a frequency of about ten (10) to 20 kHz for less than ten (10) minutes in each of the one or more locations.

117. The method of claim 116 further comprising directing the liquid medium processing stream through one or more flow cells in series or parallel, further wherein one of the one or more transducers is placed into each of the one or more flow cells.

118. The method of claim 117 wherein each of the one or more transducers uses a cascade horn and sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream for less than five minutes in each of the one or more locations.

119. The method of claim 118 wherein each of the one or more transducers have more than one horn.

120. The method of claim 117 wherein the frequency is between about 19.5 to 20.5 kHz.

121. The method of claim 120 wherein the power is about ten (10) kW.

122. The method of claim 117 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a wet mill process and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least before or during a fiber washing step.

123. The method of claim 117 wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations prior to fermentation.

124. The system of claim 115 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream before or after the cooking step.

125. A method for increasing fermentable starch levels in an dry grind alcohol production process having a liquid medium processing stream comprising applying sonication to the liquid medium processing stream wherein alcohol yield is increased and residual starch levels are reduced.

126. The method of claim 125 wherein the alcohol production process is a dry grind ethanol production process, further wherein ethanol yield is increased.

127. The method of claim 126 wherein the ethanol production process also produces distiller'"'"'s dry grain solids containing the residual starch and protein, further wherein ethanol yield is increased by approximately one (1) to ten (10) % and residual starch levels are reduced by approximately one (1) to 100% in the distiller'"'"'s dry grain solids.

128. The method of claim 125 wherein gelatinized starch granules present in the liquid medium processing stream are broken open or disintegrated, further wherein availability of gelatinized starch granules to enzymes added to the liquid medium processing stream is increased during liquefaction and saccharification.

129. A method for increasing extracted starch levels in an wet mill alcohol production process having a liquid medium processing stream comprising applying sonication to the liquid medium processing stream wherein alcohol yield is increased.