Patent Publication Number: US-2023138705-A1

Title: Ethanol production system and method

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority in U.S. Patent Application No. 63/273,014 filed Oct. 28, 2021 which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     Dry milling of corn and other grains is used to prepare feedstock for producing ethanol through fermentation of the starch components in the feedstock grain. The ethanol product output is used in fuel and other applications. 
     Corn and other grains contain components other than starch, such as fiber, sugars, oil, ash and protein. The fiber components typically contain embedded starch components, which is unavailable for ethanol production and passes through the plant unconverted. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Various methods are available for processing the fiber components of feedstock grain in such a way as to make the resulting starch available for ethanol production. However, heretofore there has not been available an alternative corn cooking system with the advantages and features of the present invention. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The proposed method is a unique method for efficiently processing the fiber component to increase the starch conversion of ground corn. Use of high temperature to cook ground corn or starch containing materials is known in the art. The method of separating out the fiber components first, to reduce the total amount of material that must be heated to high temperature, improves the concept by reducing the amount of steam needed to achieve the same results. 
     The fiber components are separated from the other components in the ground corn by use of a flour screening device. The ground corn is diverted to the flour screening device to separate the ground corn into two streams. A fine particulate flour which will contain most of the starch will pass through the screen and be sent back to the ethanol plant untreated. The larger particle fiber components will be diverted to the new process where the material will be exposed to very high temperature conditions, above 250° F., to allow the embedded starch components in the fiber to be removed from fiber and made available for fermentation to ethanol. The treated fiber components are sent back to the ethanol plant and blended back with the starch containing flour stream. 
     By separating the fiber components out of the ground corn first, the high temperature process used will be more efficient as less steam will be required for this system as only 50% of the ground corn components will need to be treated. This will keep the steam usage minimized. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof. 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic diagram of a system for producing ethanol from grain embodying an aspect of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     I. Introduction and Environment 
     As required, detailed aspects of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed aspects are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. 
     Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only and will not be limiting. The words, “inwardly” and “outwardly” refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the aspect being described and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and words of similar meaning. 
     II. Preferred Embodiment Ethanol Production System and Method 
     Ground corn  105 , diverted from an existing plant  50 , is fed to a flour screen  100  with sufficient screens to allow for separation of the ground corn  105  into three separate components. Unground corn  130 , will be removed and sent back to the plant  50 . Fine particulate flour  110  will pass through the screens and is fed to a flour mix tank  200 . Process water  205  from the existing plant  50  is mixed with the flour to produce a flour slurry,  210 , at about 30% wt solids. The flour slurry  210  is pumped to the slurry mixer  600 . 
     Larger particulate fiber components, which are shown at  120 , are separated by the flour screen  100  and diverted to a fiber mix tank  300 . Process water  305 , from the existing plant  50 , is mixed with the fiber components  120  to produce a fiber slurry  310  at about 30% wt solids. The fiber slurry  310 , is pumped and fed to a high temperature jet cooker  400 , where high pressure steam  405 , from the existing plant  50 , is mixed with the fiber slurry  310 , to produce a high temperature slurry  410  at above 250° F. 
     The high temperature slurry  410  is fed to a high temperature cook tube  500 , where the mixture will be kept at above 250° F. for approximately 10 minutes. After being held in the high temperature cook tube  500 , the cooked fiber  510  will be fed to the slurry mixer  600  where the cooked fiber  510  is blended with the flour slurry  210  to produce a stream of warm slurry  610  at approximately 185° F., which is sent to the existing ethanol plant  50 . 
     It is to be understood that while certain embodiments and/or aspects of the invention have been shown and described, the invention is not limited thereto and encompasses various other embodiments and aspects.