Cellulosic biofuel

A method to treat corn in a process stream in a dry grind process, the method comprising:

• milling the corn in the process stream through a milling device;
• subsequently,
• forming a mash with the corn, the mash including a solids content between 18% and 40%;
• subsequently
• fractionating the mash in the process stream in the mash with a mechanical separation device by separating components of the process stream into a first stream comprising fiber and germ from a second stream comprising starch and protein;
• sending the second stream to a fermentation tank;
• shearing the fiber and the germ from the first stream by going through a shearing device to impart shear on the fiber, and the germ;
• pretreating the first stream comprising the fiber and the germ by adding water to the first stream comprising the fiber in a tank to create a low-solids slurry, wherein a percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry comprises less than about 25%;
• heating the low-solids slurry to increase temperature of the low-solids slurry to create a heated low-solids slurry;
• adding a chemical to the heated low-solids slurry to cause a reaction zone to occur to produce a chemically treated low-solids slurry;
• hydrolyzing and fermenting the chemically treated low-solids slurry to produce cellulosic beer using a cellulase enzyme complex cocktail in hydrolysis and an organism in fermentation;
• sending the cellulosic beer to the fermentation tank;
• and
• fermenting the second stream and the cellulosic beer together in the fermentation tank.

A method to treat corn feedstock, the method comprising:

• treating the corn feedstock by milling the corn feedstock through a milling device;
• subsequently,
• forming a mash with the corn feedstock, the mash including a solids content between 18% and 40%;
• subsequently
• fractionating the mash with a mechanical separation device, comprising at least one of a paddle machine, a washing paddle machine, a filtration centrifuge, a pressure DSM screen, or a gravity DSM screen by separating components of the milled corn feedstock into a first stream comprising bran and germ from a second stream comprising starch and protein;
• sending the second stream to a fermentation tank;
• imparting shear on the first stream comprising the bran and the germ, wherein the shear imparted is on large, suspended solids;
• pretreating the first stream comprising the bran and the germ by adding water to the first stream comprising the bran and the germ in a tank to create a low-solids slurry, wherein a percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry comprises less than about 25%;
• heating the low-solids slurry to increase temperature of the low-solids slurry to produce a heated low-solids slurry;
• adding a chemical to the heated low-solids slurry to cause a reaction zone to occur to produce a chemically treated low-solids slurry;
• and
• hydrolyzing and fermenting the chemically treated low-solids slurry to produce cellulosic beer using a cellulase enzyme complex cocktail in hydrolysis and an organism in fermentation;
• sending the cellulosic beer to the fermentation tank;
• and
• fermenting the second stream and the cellulosic beer in the fermentation tank.

A method to treat corn feedstock in a dry grind process, the method comprising:

• sending the corn feedstock through a milling device;
• subsequently,
• forming a mash with the corn feedstock, the mash including a solids content between 18% and 40%;
• subsequently
• fractionating the mash by using a mechanical separation device by separating components of the mash into a first stream comprising bran and germ from a second stream comprising starch and protein;
• sending the first stream comprising the bran and the germ, which includes large, suspended solids through a shearing device to impart shear on the large, suspended solids;
• sending the second stream to a fermentation tank;
• pretreating the bran by adding water to the bran in a tank to create a low-solids slurry, wherein a percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry comprises less than about 25%;
• heating the low-solids slurry to increase temperature of the low-solids slurry to create a heated low-solids slurry;
• adding a chemical to the heated low-solids slurry to cause a reaction zone to occur and to create a chemically treated low-solids slurry;
• hydrolyzing and fermenting the chemically treated low-solids slurry to produce cellulosic beer using a cellulase enzyme complex cocktail in hydrolysis and an organism in fermentation;
• sending the cellulosic beer to the fermentation tank;
• sending the germ to the fermentation tank;
• and
• fermenting the second stream, the germ, and the cellulosic beer together in the fermentation tank.