Basf Se Corporation

Anthony Newton

Joseph P Borst

Kenneth L Zack

A corn-to-ethanol production process is disclosed. The process includes the steps of dry-milling corn kernels to form a corn flour; combining the corn flour with water to form a mash; extracting corn oil from the mash; fermenting the mash thereby producing beer and carbon dioxide; distilling the beer to produce ethanol and whole stillage; and processing the whole stillage to produce wet distiller's grains with solubles (WDGS) and/or dried distiller's grains with solubles (DDGS). The step of extracting corn oil from the mash includes the sub steps of: optionally wet-milling the mash; separating the mash to produce a light phase and a heavy phase; adding an alkanesulfonic acid to the light phase; extracting corn oil from the light phase; and combining the light phase having the corn oil extracted therefrom with the heavy phase to reform the mash.

Preparation of ethanol from corn

A dry-milling ethanol process includes the steps of: dry-milling corn kernels to form a corn flour; combining the corn flour with water to form a mash; fermenting the mash thereby producing beer and carbon dioxide; adding an alkanesulfonic acid to the beer in an amount sufficient to adjust the pH to a range of from about 3 to about 5; distilling the beer to produce ethanol and whole stillage; and processing the whole stillage to produce wet distiller's grains with solubles and/or dried distiller's grains with solubles.

Dry-milling ethanol process

A dry-milling process for the production of dried distiller's grains with solubles ('DDGS') includes the steps of dry-milling corn kernels to form a corn flour comprising corn fiber; combining the corn flour with water to form a mash; separating the corn fiber from the mash; treating the separated corn fiber with a composition; combining the treated corn fiber with the mash having the corn fiber separated therefrom to form a slurry; fermenting the slurry to produce beer and carbon dioxide; distilling the beer to produce ethanol and whole stillage; and processing the whole stillage to produce DDGS. The composition includes an alkanesulfonic acid, water, an enzyme, and optionally a surfactant.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Anthony Newton