Method for conditioning and processing whole or thin stillage to aid in the separation and recovery of protein and oil fractions
AssigneeFluid Quip Technologies, LLC
InventorNeal Jakel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of processing thin stillage in an ethanol refining operation is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises treating stillage with an inverse emulsion comprising at least one anionic flocculant and an emulsifying agent selected from a sorbitan ester of a fatty acid, an ethoxylated sorbitan ester of a fatty acid, and combinations thereof, thereby forming treated stillage; clarifying the treated stillage via at least one of dissolved air flotation and induced air flotation, thereby forming clarified thin stillage and a float layer comprising oil and solids; separating the oil from the solids of the float layer; and recovering the oil.
Claims18
A method of processing thin stillage in an ethanol refining operation comprising:
- separating whole stillage into a wet cake and thin stillage;
- subjecting the thin stillage to evaporation to provide a concentrated thin stillage;
- treating the concentrated thin stillage upstream of a second concentration or evaporation step with a processing aid thereby forming treated thin stillage;
- clarifying the treated thin stillage via at least one of dissolved air flotation or induced air flotation, thereby forming clarified thin stillage and a float layer comprising oil and solids;
- separating the oil from the solids of the float layer;
- and
- recovering the oil.
A method of processing thin stillage in an ethanol refining operation comprising:
- separating whole stillage into a wet cake and thin stillage;
- subjecting the thin stillage to evaporation to provide a concentrated thin stillage;
- inverting an inverse emulsion comprising at least one anionic flocculant and an emulsifying agent selected from a sorbitan ester of a fatty acid, an ethoxylated sorbitan ester of a fatty acid, or combinations thereof, by combining the inverse emulsion with water and an inverting surfactant, thereby forming a latex;
- treating the concentrated thin stillage upstream of a second concentration or evaporation step with the latex, thereby forming treated thin stillage;
- clarifying the treated thin stillage via at least one of dissolved air flotation or induced air flotation thereby forming clarified thin stillage and a float layer comprising oil and solids;
- separating the oil from the solids of the float layer;
- and
- recovering the oil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.