Patent ID: 7794548

Claim:
A process for treating a stream of dry corn kernels having therein a significant percentage of fiber, comprising the steps of: a) milling the corn kernels to form particles, some particles being germ particles that predominantly comprise germ material from the kernels and other particles being starch-containing particles that predominantly comprise starch material from the kernels; b) mechanically separating at least some of the germ particles from the starch-containing particles to form a germ particle stream with the remainder of the particles forming a starch-containing particle stream; c) mixing the starch-containing particle stream with a liquid solvent comprising a mixture of ethanol and water to dissolve at least a portion of the starch in the starch-containing particle stream to form a carbohydrate slurry stream containing (i) fiber and (ii) starch dissolved in the liquid solvent; d) transferring the carbohydrate slurry stream to a settling tank; e) holding the carbohydrate slurry stream in the settling tank for a time sufficient to allow settling of a portion of the fibers; f) removing the upper volume of the dissolved carbohydrate stream to form a reduced fiber liquid carbohydrate stream containing a smaller fraction of the fiber than did the original starch-containing particle stream; and g) thereafter, mixing an enzyme with the reduced fiber liquid carbohydrate stream to convert at least a portion of the starch in the reduced fiber liquid carbohydrate stream to sugars.