Protein recovery

Abstract

A process for recovering a protein-containing fermentation agent, comprising (i) forming an aqueous mixture of an organic material and a protein-containing fermentation agent capable of fermenting the organic material to produce ethanol, (ii) fermenting the aqueous mixture to produce ethanol, (iii) recovering from the fermented aqueous mixture an ethanol stream which is rich in ethanol and a co-product stream comprising unfermented organic material, fermentation agent and an aqueous solution of dissolved solids in water, (iv) subjecting the co-product stream to a first separation stage to recover a first stream rich in the unfermented organic material and a second stream rich in the fermentation agent suspended in the aqueous solution, and (v) subjecting the second stream to a second separation step, capable of recovering suspended solids from a liquid, to recover a third stream rich in the fermentation agent and a fourth stream rich in the aqueous solution. The invention also relates to a new yeast composition obtainable from the process.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.