Patent ID: 8034586

Claim:
A method for the co-production of ethanol and a preparation comprising soluble arabinoxylans comprising the steps of: (a) mixing water with milled arabinoxylan-containing cereal material to obtain a mash, (b) liquefying the mash in the presence of an amylase, (c) saccharifying the liquefied mash in the presence of an amyloglucosidase, (d) fermenting the saccharified mash with a micro-organism that produces mainly ethanol as a fermentation product, (e) distilling the fermented mash to yield an ethanol fraction and a whole stillage fraction, (f) separating the whole stillage fraction to obtain a solids fraction (distillers wet grain) and a soluble fraction (thin stillage), wherein said method comprises the steps of: solubilising at least 15% of the water-unextractable arabinoxylans comprised in said cereal material, using an enzyme preparation comprising an endoxylanase having a high affinity for water-unextractable arabinoxylan, and, subsequently isolating the preparation comprising the soluble arabinoxylans.