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US7601858: Method of processing ethanol byproducts and related subsystems

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Filing Information

Inventor(s) David Fred Cantrell · David J. Winsness ·
Assignee(s) GS Cleantech Corporation ·
Attorney/Agent(s) Cantor Colburn LLP ·
Primary Examiner Deborah D Carr ·
Application Number US11122859
Filing date 05/05/2005
Issue date 10/13/2009
Prior Publication Data
Predicted expiration date 12/04/2026
Patent term adjustment 578
U.S. Classifications 554/8  ·
International Classifications C11B100  ·
Kind CodeB2
Related U.S. Application DataThis application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/602,050, filed Aug. 17, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
16 Claims, 5 Drawings


Abstract

In one aspect of the invention, a method recovers oil from a concentrated byproduct, such as evaporated thin stillage formed during a dry milling process used for producing ethanol. The method includes forming a concentrate from the byproduct and recovering oil from the concentrate. The step of forming the concentrate may comprise evaporating the byproduct. Further, the step of separating the oil from the concentrate may comprise using a centrifuge and, in particular, a disk stack centrifuge. Other aspects of the invention include related methods and subsystems for recovering oil from thin stillage.

Independent Claims | See all claims (16)

  1. 1. A method of recovering oil from thin stillage, the method comprising, in sequence: evaporating the thin stillage to remove water and form a concentrated byproduct; and recovering oil from the concentrated byproduct by heating and mechanically processing the concentrated byproduct to separate the oil from the concentrated byproduct, wherein the concentrated byproduct has a moisture content of greater than 30% and less than 90% by weight.
  2. 8. A method of recovering oil from thin stillage, comprising, in sequence: evaporating the thin stillage to create a concentrate having a moisture content of greater than 30% by weight and less than about 90% by weight; and centrifuging the concentrate to recover oil.
  3. 10. A method of processing whole stillage, comprising: recovering thin stillage from the whole stillage, the thin stillage including oil and solids; concentrating the thin stillage including the solids to produce a thin stillage concentrate, wherein the thin stillage concentrate has a moisture content of greater than 30% and less than 90% by weight; and recovering oil from the concentrate by a process consisting essentially of heating and mechanically processing the concentrate to separate the oil from the concentrate.
  4. 16. In a method for processing corn to produce ethanol and concentrated thin stillage, the improvement comprising the step of recovering a product consisting essentially of oil from the concentrated thin stillage by heating and mechanically processing the concentrated thin stillage to separate the oil from the concentrated thin stillage.

References Cited

U.S. Patent Documents

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Other Publications

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* cited by examiner

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