Alcohol production using sonication

Abstract

A system comprising one or more transducers and an alcohol production facility having a liquid medium processing stream, the alcohol production facility adapted for use with the one or more transducers is provided. In one embodiment, the one or more transducers apply sonication to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations. In one embodiment, the alcohol production facility is an ethanol production facility. In one embodiment, the ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process, modified dry grind process or wet mill process. The systems of the present invention utilize sonication at the frequencies and intensities required on an industrial scale to reduce the production cost of alcohol, such as ethanol, by improving alcohol yield per bushel, reducing processing times for higher throughput, reducing operating costs, and increasing the marketability of co-products, among other benefits.

1 . A system comprising: 
 one or more high-powered transducers; and    an alcohol production facility having a grain-based liquid medium processing stream wherein the one or more high-powered transducers can apply sonication to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations at a frequency effective to increase ethanol yield and reduce residual starch levels when applied prior to distillation, further wherein the alcohol production facility is a starch-to-alcohol production facility adapted for use with the one or more high-powered transducers.    
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the alcohol production facility is an ethanol production facility.  
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein grain in the grain-based liquid medium processing stream is selected from the group consisting of corn, rye, sorghum, wheat, barley, oats and rice.  
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the liquid medium processing stream is selected from the group consisting of heavy steep water, uncooked slurry, cooked mash, liquefied mash, thin stillage, wet cake and whole stillage.  
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the alcohol production facility is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production facility and the liquid medium processing stream is an uncooked slurry, wherein application of the sonication to the uncooked slurry eliminates a jet cooking step.  
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the alcohol production facility is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production facility which includes a fermentation step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream prior to the fermentation step in one or more locations.  
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the liquid medium processing stream further comprises heavy steep water, cooked mash and liquefied mash, wherein the sonication is also applied to one or more of the heavy steep water, cooked mash or liquefied mash.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the alcohol production facility is a dry grind ethanol production facility and the liquid medium processing stream further includes whole stillage, thin stillage and wet cake, wherein the sonication is also applied to one or more of the whole stillage, thin stillage or wet cake.  
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the alcohol production facility is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production facility having a jet cooking step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in a location selected from the group consisting of prior to the jet cooking step, during the jet cooking step, after the jet cooking step and any combination thereof.  
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.  
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       12 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the dry grind process has a milling step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the milling step.  
   
   
       13 . The system of  claim 12  wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.  
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 12  wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein sonication is applied to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the alcohol production facility is a dry grind, modified dry grind or wet mill ethanol production facility having a non-jet cooking step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in a location selected from the group consisting of prior to the non-jet cooking step, during the non-jet cooking step, after the non-jet cooking step and any combination thereof.  
   
   
       16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.  
   
   
       17 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       18 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the dry grind process has a milling step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the milling step.  
   
   
       19 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.  
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       21 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process.  
   
   
       22 . The system of  claim 21  wherein the dry grind process produces thin stillage and a wet cake, further wherein the sonication is applied to one or more of the thin stillage or wet cake.  
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 21  wherein the dry grind process has a milling step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the milling step.  
   
   
       24 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.  
   
   
       25 . The system of  claim 24  wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       26 . The system of  claim 21  wherein the dry grind process has a liquefaction step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the liquefaction step.  
   
   
       27 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       28 . The system of  claim 21  wherein the dry grind process produces whole stillage as an intermediate component, further wherein the sonication is applied to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       29 . The system of  claim 28  wherein the dry grind process further produces thin stillage and a wet cake, further wherein the sonication increases insoluble solids content in the wet cake and decreases insoluble solids content in the thin stillage.  
   
   
       30 . The system of  claim 28  wherein the sonication breaks down complex proteins present in the whole stillage to produce proteins having improved digestive bioavailability, further wherein animal feed produced from the whole stillage contains the proteins having the improved digestive bioavailability.  
   
   
       31 . The system of  claim 28  wherein the sonication increases surface area of components in the whole stillage resulting in reduced drying time for the components.  
   
   
       32 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a modified dry grind process.  
   
   
       33 . The system of  claim 32  wherein the modified dry process includes a soaking, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the soaking.  
   
   
       34 . The system of  claim 33  wherein the sonication is followed by a degerm step, a defiber step or a fine grind step.  
   
   
       35 . The system of  claim 32  wherein the modified dry process includes a degerm step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the degerm step.  
   
   
       36 . The system of  claim 35  wherein the sonication is followed by a defiber step or a fine grind step.  
   
   
       37 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a wet mill process.  
   
   
       38 . The system of  claim 37  wherein the wet mill process produces heavy steep water, further wherein the sonication is applied at least to the heavy steep water.  
   
   
       39 . The system of  claim 37  wherein the wet mill process includes a first grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the first grinding.  
   
   
       40 . The system of  claim 39  wherein the wet mill process includes a second grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the second grinding.  
   
   
       41 . The system of  claim 37  wherein the wet mill process includes a fiber separation step, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least after the fiber separation step.  
   
   
       42 . The system of  claim 41  wherein the wet mill process includes a second grinding, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream after the second grinding.  
   
   
       43 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the one or more high-powered transducers has an active element made from a smart material.  
   
   
       44 . The system of  claim 43  wherein at least one of the one or more high-powered transducers generates about three (3) to ten (10) kW of power.  
   
   
       45 . The system of  claim 43  wherein the smart material is selected from the group consisting of piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, piezoceramics and magnetostrictive materials.  
   
   
       46 . The system of  claim 45  wherein the magnetostrictive material is selected from the group consisting of ferrous metals, vanadium permendur, metallic glass, nickel, terbium, dysprosium, gallium and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       47 . The system of  claim 46  wherein the high-powered transducer operates at a frequency of about ten (10) to 20 kHz.  
   
   
       48 . The system of  claim 47  wherein at least one of the one or more high-powered transducers is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer operating at a frequency of at least about 17 kHz.  
   
   
       49 . The system of  claim 48  wherein the high-powered ultrasonic transducer operates at a frequency of between 19.5 and 20.5 kHz.  
   
   
       50 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising one or more transducers operating at least than about three (3) kW of power.  
   
   
       51 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the one or more transducers operate for no more than ten minutes in one or more locations of the liquid medium processing stream.  
   
   
       52 . The system of  claim 2  wherein ethanol yield is improved by one (1) to ten (10) % with the use of sonication.  
   
   
       53 . A system comprising: 
 one or more high-powered transducers; and    an ethanol production facility having a corn-based liquid medium processing stream, the ethanol production facility adapted for use with the one or more high-powered transducers wherein sonication can be applied to the corn-based liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations, wherein the one or more high-powred transducers operate at a frequency effective to increase ethanol yield and reduce residual starch levels when applied prior to distillation.    
   
   
       54 . The system of  claim 53  wherein the liquid medium processing stream is flowing at about 50 to 400 gpm and the sonication is applied to the processing stream at a frequency of about ten (10) to 20 kHz and a power of about three (3) to ten (10) kW for up to ten (10) minutes in each of the one or more locations.  
   
   
       55 . The system of  claim 54  further comprising a plurality of flow cells arranged in series or in parallel, wherein the liquid medium processing stream is directed through the plurality of flow cells, further wherein one of the one or more transducers is placed into each of the plurality of flow cells.  
   
   
       56 . The system of  claim 55  wherein each of the one or more high-powered transducers uses a cascade horn and sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream for less than five minutes in each of the one or more locations.  
   
   
       57 . The system of  claim 56  wherein each of the one or more high-powered transducers has more than one horn.  
   
   
       58 . The system of  claim 55  wherein the frequency is between about 19.5 to 20.5 kHz.  
   
   
       59 . The system of  claim 58  wherein the power is about ten (10) kW.  
   
   
       60 . The system of  claim 53  wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a wet mill process and sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least before or during a fiber washing step.  
   
   
       61 . The system of  claim 53  wherein the ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process and the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations prior to fermentation.  
   
   
       62 . The system of  claim 53  wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream before or after a jet cooking step.  
   
   
       63 . The system of  claim 53  wherein at least one of the one or more high-powered transducers is a high-powered ultrasonic transducer.  
   
   
       64 . The system of  claim 63  wherein the high-powered ultrasonic transducer operates at a frequency of at least about 17 kHz.  
   
   
       65 . The system of  claim 63  further comprising applying sonication to the liquid medium processing stream with one or more transducers operating at less than about three (3) kW of power.  
   
   
       66 . A system comprising: 
 one or more transducers; and    an alcohol production facility having a grain-based liquid medium processing stream wherein the one or more transducers can apply sonication to the liquid medium processing stream in one or more locations at a frequency effective to increase ethanol yield and reduce residual starch levels when applied prior to distillation, further wherein the alcohol production facility is a dry grind starch-to-alcohol production facility or a modified dry grind starch-to-alcohol production facility adapted for use with the one or more transducers, wherein grain in the grain-based liquid medium processing stream contains protein and most or all of the protein is retained therein throughout the dry grind starch-to-alcohol production facility or the modified dry grind starch-to-alcohol production facility until alcohol is produced, wherein a separate processing stream containing substantially all or most of the predetermined level of protein is also produced.    
   
   
       67 . The system of  claim 66  wherein the separate processing stream containing substantially all or most of the predetermined level of protein is a stillage stream produced by a dehydration and distillation step.  
   
   
       68 . The system of  claim 66  wherein sonication is at a level sufficient to generate cavitational forces in the liquid medium processing stream.  
   
   
       69 . The system of  claim 67  wherein the starch-to-alcohol production facility is a starch-to-ethanol production facility.  
   
   
       70 . The system of  claim 69  wherein the starch-to-ethanol production facility utilizes a dry grind process.  
   
   
       71 . The system of  claim 70  wherein the stillage stream contains whole stillage and sonication is applied at least to the whole stillage.  
   
   
       72 . The system of  claim 71  wherein the sonication breaks down complex proteins present in the whole stillage to produce proteins having improved digestive bioavailability, further wherein animal feed produced from the whole stillage contains the proteins having improved digestive bioavailability.  
   
   
       73 . The system of  claim 70  wherein the dry grind process produces a thin stillage product and a wet cake product, further wherein the sonication is applied to the liquid medium processing stream at least to a product selected from the group consisting of the thin stillage product, the wet cake product, and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       74 . The system of  71  wherein the dry grind process further produces a thin stillage and a wet cake, further wherein the sonication increases insoluble solids content in the wet cake and decreases insoluble solids content in the thin stillage.