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US 8,906,204 B2Granted
Methods for alcohol recovery and concentration of stillage by-products
AssigneeButamax Advanced Biofuels LLC
InventorYihui Tom Xu
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Abstract
Systems and methods for separating an alcohol, and in particular butanol, from a fermented feed and concentrating thin stillage into syrup includes operation of one or more alcohol recovery distillation columns using the heat supplied by steam generated from concentration of the thin stillage in a multi-train, multi-effect evaporation system.
Claims16
A method for separating butanol from a fermented feed and concentrating thin stillage into syrup, comprising:
- separating at least a portion of a fermented feed comprising a solvent into a solvent-rich portion and a solvent-poor portion,
- separating the solvent-poor portion in a beer column to produce a butanol-rich vapor and a butanol-poor beer bottoms including thin stillage comprising solvent;
- separating the solvent-rich portion in a solvent column to produce a solvent-poor and butanol-rich vapor and a solvent-rich and butanol-poor liquid, the solvent column being operated in parallel with the beer column and maintained at a pressure below atmospheric pressure;
- evaporating water from the thin stillage to produce a first mid stillage and a first effect steam using at least two first effect evaporators arranged in series;
- evaporating water from the first mid stillage produced with heat from the first effect steam to produce a second mid stillage and a second effect steam using at least two second effect evaporators arranged in series;
- evaporating water from the second mid stillage produced with heat from the second effect steam to produce a syrup using at least one third effect evaporator;
- and
- using at least a portion of a last effect steam produced by a last effect evaporator to supply heat for the beer column, the solvent column, or a combination thereof.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.