Patent ID: 9012191
Filing Date: 2015-04-21
Classification: C12M,C12P,Y02E

Abstract:
1. A dry grind ethanol production process, the process comprising: (A) grinding dry corn kernels into corn flour; (B) mixing the ground corn flour with a liquid to produce a slurry including free oil, protein, starch, and fiber, germ, and grit particles; (C) subjecting the slurry of step (B) to the start of liquefaction, which includes adding an enzyme to the slurry; (D) after step (C), separating the slurry, via particle sizes alone, into a solids portion, separately including the fiber, grit, and germ particles of the slurry, and a liquid portion, including the free oil, protein, and starch of the slurry; (E) milling the separated solids portion of step (D) to reduce the size of the fiber, grit, and germ particles and release starch, oil, and protein therefrom; (F) recombining at least the starch from the separated liquid portion of step (D) with at least the released starch of step (E) to form a second slurry; (G) converting the starches in the second slurry of step (F) to sugar; (H) producing alcohol from the sugar of step (G) via fermentation; and (I) recovering the alcohol after fermentation.