Alcohol and distillers grain recovery process
OwnerClyde G. Anderson, Tomas E. Varainventors
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Abstract
A process for producing alcohol and dried distillers grain from a source material containing starch or sugar by cooking, by saccharification, fermentation, evaporation, distillation, and wherein the distillers grain is dried by heat produced by flash cooling of effluent from cooking of the source material and by air heated by heat exchange with the overhead vapor from the distillation operation, the process resulting in reducing the external energy required to effect drying of the distillers grain.
Claims28
A process for producing an alcohol from a naturally occurring organic material comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming a mixture of said organic material and hot water to form a mash thereof;
- (b) steam cooking said mash in the presence of an enzyme to form an effluent of an aqueous liquor including starch and spent insoluble mash;
- (c) flash cooling said effluent at a first pressure to form flash steam;
- (d) increasing the pressure of said flash steam to form a higher pressure steam;
- (e) saccharifying said effluent in the presence of an enzyme to convert said starch to a sugar;
- (f) fermenting said effluent to form a vapor including carbon dioxide and an alcohol liquor including alcohol and water;
- (g) separating the aqueous liquor containing said alcohol from said insoluble spent mash;
- and
- (h) heat exchanging said higher pressure steam and said separated insoluble mash to at least effect a partial drying thereof.
An improved process for producing an alcohol from grain comprising the steps of:
- (a) producing sugar from grain;
- (b) fermenting said sugar forming an effluent including water, alcohol and spent grain;
- (c) physically removing a thin liquor including alcohol and water from said spent grain, including residual alcohol;
- (d) then extracting residual alcohol from the spent grain;
- and
- (e) distilling said separated alcohol forming an overhead substantially of alcohol.
An improved process for obtaining a substantially dry alcohol product comprising the steps of:
- (a) distilling an aqueous solution of alcohol forming a first overhead containing about 7.5 percent water;
- (b) distilling said overhead in the presence of an azeotrope former producing a substantially dry alcohol bottom product and an overhead product including water and said azeotrope former;
- and
- (c) utilizing said second overhead product vapors as a source of heat in at least one of said distilling steps.
An improved process for producing an alcohol from grain comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming an aqueous effluent from the grain wherein said effluent includes alcohol, water, and spent solid grain;
- (b) separating alcohol and water from the spent solid grain;
- (c) distilling the alcohol and water forming an overhead vapor essentially of alcohol and water;
- (d) condensing said overhead by indirect heat exchange with air thereby increasing the temperature of said air to a temperature sufficient to supply supplemental heat to dry the spent solid grain;
- and
- (e) at least partially drying said spent solid grain by heat exchange with the heated air.
An improved process for producing an alcohol from grain comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparation of mash by steam cooking grain in the presence of enzymes to produce fermentable sugar;
- (b) fermenting the sugar to produce an effluent including water, alcohol and spent grain;
- (c) physically removing a portion of the alcohol, water, and other solubles from said effluent;
- (d) then washing the residual alcohol from the spent grain;
- (e) evaporating the alcohol and a substantial amount of the water from the soluble alcohol prior to distilling for producing a liquor of non-volatile solubles;
- (f) compressing and condensing the alcohol and water vapors to provide heat for said evaporation step;
- (g) distilling the alcohol condensate to produce alcohol, recyclable water and distillation heat;
- (h) drying said spent grain and said solubles with heat from said cooking steam and said distillation heat;
- and
- (i) recycling said recyclable water.
An improved process for producing ethyl alcohol from grain comprising the steps of:
- (a) producing sugar from grain;
- (b) fermenting said sugar forming an effluent including water, ethyl alcohol and spent grain;
- (c) physically removing a portion of the water and ethyl alcohol from the insoluble spent grant;
- (d) then washing the alcohol from the insoluble spent grain;
- and
- (e) physically removing the wash water and alcohol from the insoluble spent grain.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.