Alcohol production using sonication

• US 7,101,691 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Issued: 09/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: FCStone Carbon LLC (StoneX Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Edge Technologies, Inc, Ultraforce Technology, LLC
• Inventors: Krohn, Bradley, Snodgrass, Jonathan D., Kinley, Michael T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Saucier, Sandra E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Singh, Satyendra K.
• Application Number:
  US10/926,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20050118692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 740 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 method comprising applying sonication to a grain-based liquid medium processing stream of a starch-to-alcohol production process with one or more transducers is provided. In one embodiment, the one or more transducers apply sonication to the grain-based liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations. In one embodiment, the starch-to-alcohol production process is a starch-to-ethanol production process. In one embodiment, the starch-to-ethanol production process is a dry grind process, modified dry grind process or wet mill process. The 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 method for alcohol production comprising applying sonication to a grain-based liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations of a starch-to-alcohol production process with one or more high-powered transducers at a frequency effective to increase alcohol yield and reduce residual starch levels when applied prior to distillation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the starch-to-alcohol production process is a starch-to-ethanol production process.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein grain in the grain-based liquid medium processing stream is selected from the group consisting of corn, rye, sorghum, wheat, barley, oats and rice.

4. The method of claim 1 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.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the starch-to-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.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the starch-to-alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill starch-to-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.

7. The method of claim 1 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.

8. The method of claim 7 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.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the starch-to-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.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the starch-to-alcohol production process is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill starch-to-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.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein the starch-to-ethanol production process is a dry grind process.

12. The method of claim 11 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.

13. The method of claim 11 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.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component and the sonication is applied at least to the whole stillage.

15. The method of claim 14 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.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the sonication increases surface area of components in the whole stillage resulting in reduced drying time for the components.

17. The method of claim 11 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.

18. The method of claim 2 wherein the starch-to-ethanol production process is a modified dry grind process.

19. The method of claim 18 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.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein application of the sonication is followed by a degerm step, a defiber step or a fine grind step.

21. The method of claim 19 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.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the sonication is followed by a defiber step or a fine grind step.

23. The method of claim 2 wherein the starch-to-ethanol production process is a wet mill process.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the wet mill process produces heavy steep water, further wherein the sonication is applied at least to the heavy steep water.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more high-powered ultrasonic transducers.

26. The method of claim 23 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.

27. The method of claim 26 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.

28. The method of claim 23 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.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the one or more high-powered transducers has an active element made from a smart material.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the smart material is selected from the group consisting of piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, piezoceramics and magnetostrictive materials.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the magnetostrictive material is selected from the group consisting of ferrous metals, vanadium permendur, metallic glass, nickel, terbium, dysprosium, gallium and combinations thereof.

32. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more high-powered transducers generates about three (3) to ten (10) kW of power.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the high-powered transducer operates at a frequency of about ten (10) to 20 kHz.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the high-powered transducer is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer operating at a frequency of at least about 17 kHz.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the high-powered ultrasonic transducer operates at a frequency of between about 19.5 and 20.5 kHz.

36. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying sonication to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more transducers operating at less than about three (3) kW of power.

37. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the one or more high-powered transducers operate for no more than ten minutes in one or more locations of the liquid medium processing stream.

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

49. The method of claim 8 wherein the sonication increases insoluble solids content in the wet cake and decreases insoluble solids content in the thin stillage.

50. The method of claim 14 wherein the dry grind process further produces thin stillage and a wet cake, further wherein the sonication increases insoluble solids content in the wet cake and decreases insoluble solids content in the thin stillage.

39. A method for ethanol production comprising applying sonication to a corn-based liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations in an ethanol production process with one or more high-powered transducers at a frequency effective to increase ethanol yield and reduce residual starch levels when applied prior to distillation.

40. The method of claim 39 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.

41. The method of claim 40 further comprising directing the liquid medium processing stream through a plurality of flow cells arranged in series or in parallel, further wherein one of the one or more transducers is placed into each of the plurality of flow cells.

42. The method of claim 41 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.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein each of the one or more transducers has more than one horn.

44. The method of claim 41 wherein the frequency is between about 19.5 to 20.5 kHz.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the power is about ten (10) kW.

46. The method of claim 41 wherein the starch-to-ethanol production process 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.

47. The method of claim 41 wherein the starch-to-ethanol production process utilizes a dry grind process and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations prior to fermentation.

48. The method of claim 39 wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream before or after the cooking step.

51. The method of claim 39 wherein at least one of the one or more high-powered transducers is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the high-powered ultrasonic transducer operates at a frequency of at least about 17 kHz.

53. The method of claim 39 further comprising applying sonication to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more transducers operating at less than about three (3) kW of power.

54. A method for ethanol production comprising applying sonication to a corn-based liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations in a starch-to-ethanol production process with one or more high-powered transducers, each of the one or more high-powered transducers having at least one horn in intimate contact with at least a portion of the processing stream, wherein said one or more transducers operate at a frequency effective to increase ethanol yield and reduce residual starch levels when applied prior to distillation.

55. The method of claim 54 wherein the intimate contact occurs in a pipe.

56. The method of claim 54 wherein at least one of the one or more high-powered transducers is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein the high-powered ultrasonic transducer operates at a frequency of at least about 17 kHz.

58. The method of claim 54 wherein at least one of the at least one horn is a cascade horn.

59. The method of claim 54 comprising two or more high-powered transducers.

60. The method of claim 59 wherein at least one of the two or more high-powered transducers has two or more horns.

61. The method of claim 54 further comprising applying sonication to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more transducers operating at less than about three (3) kW.

62. A method for alcohol production comprising applying sonication to a grain-based liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations of a dry grind starch-to-alcohol production process or a modified dry grind starch-to-alcohol production process, wherein grain in the grain-based liquid medium processing stream contains protein and most or all of the protein is retained therein throughout the dry grind starch-to-alcohol production process or the modified dry grind starch-to-alcohol production process until alcohol is produced, wherein a separate processing stream containing substantially all or most of the protein is also produced, wherein said sonication is applied at a frequency effective to increase alcohol yield and reduce residual starch levels when applied prior to distillation.

63. The method of claim 62 wherein the separate processing stream containing substantially all or most of the protein is a stillage stream produced by a dehydration and distillation step.

64. The method of claim 62 wherein sonication is at a level sufficient to generate cavitational forces in the liquid medium processing stream.

65. The method of claim 63 wherein the starch-to-alcohol production process is a starch-to-ethanol production process.

66. The method of claim 65 wherein the starch-to-ethanol production process is a dry grind process.

67. The method of claim 66 wherein the stillage stream contains whole stillage and sonication is applied at least to the whole stillage.

68. The method of claim 67 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.

69. 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.

70. The method of claim 67 wherein the dry grind process further produces thin stillage and a wet cake, further wherein the sonication increases insoluble solids content in the wet cake and decreases insoluble solids content in the thin stillage.