The Dry Grind Corn to Ethanol Process

National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center Southern Illinois University Education and Workforce Development 400 University Park Drive Edwardsville, Illinois 62025-3604 Office: (618) 659-6737 ext. 239 Fax: (618) 659-8762 www.ethanolresearch.com

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A copyright statement is as follows: ---------------------------Copyright 2007, Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University, National Corn to Ethanol Research Center, Edwardsville, Illinois 62026 All rights reserved. These materials are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced, copied, displayed, or disseminated in any media without the express consent of the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center
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The Corn to Ethanol Process

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CO2 Enzyme
Water

National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, SIUE

2007 All Rights Reserved

Start Here

Ammonia

Enzyme

6
Liquefaction

Urea

2
Hammer Mill Enzyme

3
Slurry Tank

Steam

8
Fermentation

Jet Cooker
(Heating)

(Cooling)

Yeast 7 5% Gasoline Added

(190 Proof )

Denatured Ethanol

9
Molecular Sieve 10
(200 Proof ) (Recycled Water)

11 9

Distillation System

Dried Distillers Grain with Solubles

Evaporator Drum Dryer

(Syrup)

13

12

(Thin Stillage)

Centrifuge
( Wet Cake)

(Whole Stillage)

The Dry-Grind Corn to Ethanol Process

The dry-grind ethanol fermentation process (from kernel to ethanol) requires approximately 54 to 58 hours. The time consuming step is the actual fermentation which requires almost 50 hours.

One bushel of corn (56 pounds) yields approximately 2.8 gallons of ethanol, 18 pounds of carbon dioxide, and 18 pounds of Dried Distillers Grain with Solubles (DDGS).

Hopper

Most corn grown for ethanol production is #2 yellow dent corn, so named because of the indentation that occurs on top after the kernel is allowed to dry.

Midwest Corn typically contains: 70-72% starch, 9% protein, 4% oils, and 9% fiber on a dry basis, plus approximately 15% water.

Hammer Mill
The corn kernels are milled to a coarse flour and passed through a fine mesh screen. The corn particle sizing is a compromise between: (A) grinding fine enough to provide increased surface area to make starch granules available for reaction with water and enzymes and (B) leaving large enough particles for drying the Distillers Grain at the end for animal feed.

Water Ammonia or Sulfuric Acid

Hammer Mill

Slurry Mixer

3
(Corn flour)

Slurry Tank
(Recycled Water)

Corn flour from the hammer mill is mixed first in the slurry mixer with hot water and alpha-amylase enzyme. The resulting slurry is adjusted to a pH of 5.6 to 6.0 with acid or base.

3 Slurry Tank
Temperature = 185 oF pH = 5.6 to 6.0 % Solids = 32%

alphaamylase

Only one third of the total alpha-amylase is added in the slurry Tank.

The remaining alpha-amylase will be added later in the liquefaction tank.

Steam
holding column

Slurry Mash

Jet Cooker

The slurry mash is heated to above 220F in a jet cooker using direct steam. Upon exiting the jet cooker, the corn slurry enters a holding column where the mixture is held for 5 to 10 minutes.

holding column

5 Liquefaction Tank
alpha-amylase Temperature = 185 oF pH = 5.6 to 6.0 % Solids = 30%

From the holding column, the slurry enters a Liquefaction Tank (5).
Additional alpha-amylase is added and the mash is allowed to react (liquefy) for approximately 30 minutes. The jet cooking and liquefaction steps break apart the long starch granules. The shorter molecules are called dextrin.

CO2

gluco-amylase 6
Liquefaction Tank

9 8 Fermentation Tanks SSF

Temperature = 90 oF pH = 3.5 to 4.0

Yeast 7

A second enzyme, gluco-amylase (6), is added to complete the dextrin breakdown to glucose. Glucose is converted by yeast (7) through a series of multi-step reactions to ethanol and carbon dioxide in the fermentation tanks (8). Over the past 10 years, many ethanol plants have started adding the saccharifying enzyme (gluco-amylase) directly to the fermentation tank. This faster process is know as Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF).

CO2
9

Fermentation Tanks

Carbon dioxide is a major co-product in the fermentation process. Every bushel of corn (approximately 56 pounds) will produce approximately 18 pounds of carbon dioxide gas.

Yeast 7

Fermentation Tanks

Yeast can withstand extreme environmental stresses including high ethanol concentrations (final concentrations of 12-18% by volume), as well as organic acids produced by contaminating bacteria. Fortunately, most bacterial contaminants do not grow below pH 4. Contaminating microorganisms can lower the yield by converting glucose to some undesirable fermentation products like fusel oils (undesired alcohols), acetic acid, and lactic acid. Antibiotics maybe added to the fermentation process to minimize bacterial contamination.

Distillation System
Beer Well

(beer)

At the end of fermentation, the product is called beer and contains 12% or higher concentration of ethanol. The beer is typically stored in a tank referred to as the beer well.

The distillation system typically consists of three columns.

(gases)

Molecular Sieve

Distillation System
Beer Well

(whole stillage)
Centrifuge First, the beer is passed through a degassing column (gray) to remove carbon dioxide and other gases. Separation of ethanol/water from the non-converted solids mixture occurs on the beer column (blue). These non-converted solids (whole stillage) fall to the bottom and are sent to the centrifuge for separation.

Further separation of the ethanol/water mixture is accomplished using a rectifier column (red). The 190 proof ethanol is sent through a molecular sieve column to convert it to 200 proof.

190 Proof Denatured Ethanol Tank

from Rectifier Column

Molecular Sieve 10

Temperature > 280 oF Pressure = 6 psig

200 Proof

Conventional distillation methods yield 190 proof (95% pure ethanol) because ethanol and water form an azeotrope. An azeotrope is simply a mixture of two substances that form a constant boiling point mixture.

The remaining 5% water is removed by molecular sieves, which rely on pore sizes to separate the smaller water molecules from ethanol.

11
5% Gasoline Added

Denatured Ethanol

Molecular Sieve

Finally, anhydrous (100% or 200 proof) ethanol is denatured, typically with 5% gasoline to exempt the ethanol from beverage alcohol taxes.

thin stillage

Centrifuge

whole stillage

wet cake

The solids materials remaining after distillation of ethanol from the beer column is called whole stillage. Whole stillage contains 13-17% solids and is composed primarily of small particles of corn that did not get converted to ethanol. This whole stillage is separated in the centrifuge into wet cake and thin stillage. Wet cake is a more concentrated form of the whole stillage and contains approximately 35% solids after leaving the centrifuge. Since it contains mostly solids, it must be augured or conveyed to the drum dryer.

backset

Evaporator
12 (thin stillage)

Centrifuge
(wet cake)

Drum Dryer (syrup)

The thin stillage is primarily water with between 4 and 5% solids. The thin stillage is evaporated down to a concentrated syrup in the evaporator. The condensed water is recycled to the Slurry tank. This condensed water is called backset and helps to conserve total water usage. The remaining liquid is concentrated (called syrup) by evaporation and mixed with the wet cake before entering the dryer. Syrup is approximately 28-30% solids and contains mostly protein and oils from the corn. The addition of syrup increases the nutritional value of the DDG.

Evaporator
(syrup) DDGS

Rotary Drum Dryer

Inlet Air Temperature = 600-1200 oF

Centrifuge
(wet cake)

DDGS Residence time = approximately 30 minutes The mixture of syrup and wet cake is dried to generate Dried Distillers Dried Grain with Syrup or Solubles (DDGS). DDGS is typically dried to a 10% moisture level. The moisture content and correspondingly short shelf-life of wet distillers grains limit use of this feed product to the immediate vicinity of ethanol plants. The shelf life of the DDGS can be lengthened by adding organic acids as preservatives and removing almost all the moisture content.

NCERC

Distillers Dried Grain with Solubles 13

In the dry grind process, corn is ground whole and fermented to ethanol. The only major by-products are ethanol, carbon dioxide, and Distillers Dried Grain with Solubles.

DDGS is sold primarily as cattle feed.

Grain Qual

Particle Size

DE pH
Liquefaction Slurry Tank Jet Cooker
(Heating)

pH HPLC

Hammer Mill

(Cooling)

Proximate Analysis

DE TS % pH

Fermentation

(190 Proof )

H2O %
Ethanol Storage Amino Acids Total P Proximates Ash etc. DDGS Drum Dryer
(200 Proof )

9
Molecular Sieve
(Recycled Water)

Distillation System

HPLC

Centrifuge
TS%
Evaporator
(Syrup)

Whole Stillage

Centrifuge
(Thin Stillage)

( Wet Cake)

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