Corn fractionation method
First Claim
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1. A method for processing corn into ethanol, comprising:
- (a) separating the corn into a bran, a germ, and a starch-and-protein mixture;
(b) hydrolyzing the bran into a bran hydrolysate comprising free sugars;
(c) hydrolyzing the starch in the starch-and-protein mixture of step (a) into a hydrolyzed mixture comprising a starch hydrolysate and protein which is insoluble in the starch hydrolysate;
(d) separating the protein from the hydrolyzed mixture of step (c);
(e) anaerobically fermenting yeast and the starch hydrolysate to produce an anaerobic fermentate;
(f) separating the anaerobic fermentate of step (e) into (i) a first anaerobically fermented yeast stream, (ii) the ethanol, and (iii) a mixture comprising water and fermentation by-products;
(g) aerobically fermenting yeast and the mixture comprising water and fermentation by-products of step (f) to consume at least part of the fermentation by-products, wherein the aerobically fermented yeast is the same or different than the yeast of step (e); and
h) separating the result of step (g) into a second stream of the aerobically fermented yeast of step (g) and water.
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Abstract
An improved method for processing corn into ethanol and other valuable co-products. The invention generally involves a multi-step process which produces germ (or oil), protein, and feed yeast as its co-products while maintaining or enhancing the provision of fermentable sugar to ethanol fermentation. This is accomplished by fundamentally altering the way the corn is fractionated, disrupting the cell walls rather than the protein matrix as is done in conventional wet milling.
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21 Claims
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1. A method for processing corn into ethanol, comprising:
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(a) separating the corn into a bran, a germ, and a starch-and-protein mixture; (b) hydrolyzing the bran into a bran hydrolysate comprising free sugars; (c) hydrolyzing the starch in the starch-and-protein mixture of step (a) into a hydrolyzed mixture comprising a starch hydrolysate and protein which is insoluble in the starch hydrolysate; (d) separating the protein from the hydrolyzed mixture of step (c); (e) anaerobically fermenting yeast and the starch hydrolysate to produce an anaerobic fermentate; (f) separating the anaerobic fermentate of step (e) into (i) a first anaerobically fermented yeast stream, (ii) the ethanol, and (iii) a mixture comprising water and fermentation by-products; (g) aerobically fermenting yeast and the mixture comprising water and fermentation by-products of step (f) to consume at least part of the fermentation by-products, wherein the aerobically fermented yeast is the same or different than the yeast of step (e); and h) separating the result of step (g) into a second stream of the aerobically fermented yeast of step (g) and water. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification