ARS | Publication request: COMPARISON OF DRY AND WET MILLING DEGERM AND DEFIBER PROCESSES FOR ETHANOL PRODUCTION

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 15, 2004
Publication Date: May 20, 2004
Citation: Murthy, G.S., Johnston, D., Singh, V. Comparison of dry and wet milling degerm and defiber processes for ethanol production. Proceedings of the Corn Utilization & Technology Conference, Indianapolis, IN. June 7-9, 2004, Poster CD.

Technical Abstract: Currently, 67% of the ethanol in the US is produced from dry grind corn processing plants. The conventional dry grind process is very efficient in producing ethanol but does not produce high valued coproducts. In a conventional dry grind ethanol plant only one coproduct, dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) is produced. DDGS is sold as an animal food product, mainly for ruminant animal diets, due to its high fiber content, and is low in economic value. New technologies are being developed to recover multiple high valued coproducts such as germ and coarse fiber in the beginning of the dry grind process, prior to fermentation. These technologies include dry and wet milling, degerm and defiber processes. In this study comparison was done between dry milling and wet milling, degerm and defiber processes for ethanol production. Results show that the wet milling processes produced approximately 5% higher ethanol yields compared to dry milling process. Germ and fiber yields from wet milling processes were lower, however, the average oil content of germ was 10% higher, compared to dry milling processes. The dry milling process also resulted in "stuck" fermentations (a fermentation that fails to progress when there is still residual sugar available.