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US 2007/0184541 A1Published application
Corn fractionation method
AssigneeGrainValue, LLC
InventorsDaniel Karl, Charles Anderson, Alexa Hart, Jeremy Owen
Life of this patent
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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.
Claims19
A method for processing corn into ethanol and other co-products, comprising:
- a) separating the corn into bran, germ, and a starch/protein mixture;
- b) hydrolyzing the starch in the starch/protein mixture;
- c) separating protein from the result of b);
- d) hydrolyzing the bran into free sugars;
- e) anaerobically fermenting the remainder of c) after removal of protein;
- f) separating the result of e) into yeast, ethanol, and a mixture of water, unfermentables, and fermentation by-products;
- g) aerobically fermenting the mixture of water, unfermentables, and fermentation by-products;
- h) separating the result of g) into yeast and clean water.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.