Method for carring out the combined operation of a bioethanol production unit and a biogas unit

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method for carrying out the combined operation of a bioethanol production unit and a biogas unit. The method comprises the following steps: a) mashing corn meal from a dry milling step with at least 0.1 t of dry matter in the form of whole stillage and at least 0.1 m3 of outflow from the biogas unit per tonne of corn meal, b) feeding the mash from a) to a cooking stage with mash temperatures below the gelatinization temperature of the starch inn the corn meal, followed by an ethanol-forming fermentation step and then feeding the fermented mash to a distillation step, c) feeding the whole stillage from b) to the mashing step in a) and to the biogas unit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.