Patent ID: 8759050

Claim:
A process of producing ethanol from whole stillage, the method comprising: obtaining a supply of whole stillage from an ethanol production facility; pre-treating the whole stillage to convert hemicellulose portions of the whole stillage into sugars, the pre-treating step comprising: adding acid to the whole stillage to decrease its pH level; heating and pressurizing the whole stillage in a hydro-heater where steam is injected to cause cavitation of the whole stillage; holding the whole stillage under pressure and heat for a dwell time; removing pressure from the whole stillage to cause flashing; capturing steam from the flashing in a flash condenser for reuse; and cooling the whole stillage; adding enzymes to the whole stillage to convert cellulose portions of the whole stillage into sugars; fermenting the whole stillage to create a beer mixture; distilling the beer mixture to separate ethanol therefrom; and transferring the ethanol from the distilling step to the ethanol production facility to be combined with ethanol produced by the ethanol production facility.