Fermentative alcohol production
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Department of Energy
InventorsCharles R. Wilke, Brian L. Maiorella, Harvey W. Blanch, Gerald R. Cysewski
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Abstract
An improved fermentation process for producing alcohol which includes the combination of vacuum fermentation and vacuum distillation. Preferably, the vacuum distillation is carried out in two phases, one a fermentor proper operated at atmospheric pressure and a flash phase operated at reduced pressure with recycle of fermentation brew having a reduced alcohol content to the fermentor, using vapor recompression heating of the flash-pot recycle stream to heat the flash-pot or the distillation step, and using "water load balancing" (i.e., the molar ratio of water in the fermentor feed is the same as the molar ratio of water in the distillation overhead).
Claims10
An improved fermentation process for producing alcohol which comprises the steps of:
- conducting a fermentation phase at least in part under subatmospheric pressure at a temperature and for a period of time sufficient to produce a fermentation brew containing alcohol and a crude alcohol fraction;
- and subjecting said crude alcohol fractin to a vacuum distillation phase to separate and recover high purity alcohol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.