Cellulosic biofuel

1. A method to treat corn feedstock in a dry grind process, the method comprising:

sending the corn feedstock through a milling device; subsequently,

forming a mash with the corn feedstock, the mash including a solids content between 18% and 40%; subsequently

fractionating the mash by using a mechanical separation device by separating components of the mash into a first stream comprising bran and germ from a second stream comprising starch and protein;

sending the first stream comprising the bran and the germ, which includes large suspended solids through a shearing device to impart shear on the large suspended solids;

sending the second stream to a fermentation tank;

pretreating the first stream comprising the bran and the germ by adding water to the first stream comprising the bran and the germ with the large, suspended solids in a tank to create a low-solids slurry, wherein a percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry comprises less than about 25%;

heating the low-solids slurry to increase temperature of the low-solids slurry to create a heated low-solids slurry;

adding a chemical to the heated low-solids slurry to cause a reaction zone to occur and to create a chemically treated low-solids slurry;

hydrolyzing and fermenting the chemically treated low-solids slurry to produce cellulosic beer using a cellulase enzyme complex cocktail in hydrolysis and an organism in fermentation;

sending the cellulosic beer to the fermentation tank; and

fermenting the second stream and the cellulosic beer together in the fermentation tank.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the water comprises at least one from an evaporator condensate, a pretreatment condensate, condensate from a flash tank, or condensate from side stripper bottoms.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the increase in the temperature comprises ranging from about 355 K to about 478 K.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chemical comprises at least one of a sulfuric acid, a phosphoric acid, or a nitric acid.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrolyzing converts cellulose and hemicellulose to sugars in the low-solids slurry, at least 80% of the cellulose to glucose and converts at least 70% of the hemicellulose to monomeric components.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrolyzing and fermenting occurs in less than 60 hours.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a base in a flash tank, after the reaction zone to neutralize the low-solids slurry, wherein the base comprises at least one of anhydrous ammonia, sodium hydroxide, or potassium hydroxide.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: distilling the fermented cellulosic beer from the fermentation tank to separate alcohol from solids and liquids; removing moisture from the alcohol; and adding a denaturant to the alcohol to produce cellulosic biofuel.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mechanical separation device comprises at least one of a paddle machine, a washing paddle machine, a filtration centrifuge, a pressure DSM screen, or a gravity DSM screen.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mechanical separation device further comprises rotating and pushing the corn feedstock as a process stream against a screen.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the milling device comprises at least a hammer mill.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shearing device comprises at least one of a disc mill or a roller mill.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cellulase enzyme complex cocktail comprises at least one of (i) a blend of cellulases, ⊖-glucosidases, and hemicellulase or (ii) a blend of cellulase of GH61 compounds, β-glucosidases, and hemicellulase.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the organism comprises at least one of (i) a genetically modified organism metabolizing both 5-carbon and 6-carbon sugars, (ii) a metabolically engineered organism metabolizing both 5-carbon and 6-carbon sugars, (iii) a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, or (iv) a genetically modified Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast.

15. A method to treat corn in a process stream in a dry grind process, the method comprising:

milling the corn in the process stream through a milling device; subsequently,

forming a mash with the corn, the mash including a solids content between 18% and 40%; subsequently

fractionating the mash in the process stream in the mash with a mechanical separation device by separating components of the process stream into a first stream comprising fiber and germ from a second stream comprising starch and protein;

sending the second stream to a fermentation tank;

shearing the fiber and the germ from the first stream by going through a shearing device to impart shear on the fiber, and the germ;

pretreating the first stream comprising the fiber and the germ by adding water to the first stream comprising the fiber in a tank to create a low-solids slurry, wherein a percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry comprises less than about 25%;

heating the low-solids slurry to increase temperature of the low-solids slurry to create a heated low-solids slurry;

adding a chemical to the heated low-solids slurry to cause a reaction zone to occur to produce a chemically treated low-solids slurry;

hydrolyzing and fermenting the chemically treated low-solids slurry to produce cellulosic beer using a cellulase enzyme complex cocktail in hydrolysis and an organism in fermentation;

sending the cellulosic beer to the fermentation tank; and

fermenting the second stream and the cellulosic beer together in the fermentation tank.

16. A method to treat corn feedstock, the method comprising:

treating the corn feedstock by milling the corn feedstock through a milling device; subsequently,

forming a mash with the corn feedstock, the mash including a solids content between 18% and 40%; subsequently

fractionating the mash with a mechanical separation device, comprising at least one of a paddle machine, a washing paddle machine, a filtration centrifuge, a pressure DSM screen, or a gravity DSM screen by separating components of the milled corn feedstock into a first stream comprising bran and germ from a second stream comprising starch and protein;

sending the second stream to a fermentation tank;

imparting shear on the first stream comprising the bran and the germ, wherein the shear imparted is on large, suspended solids;

pretreating the first stream comprising the bran and the germ by adding water to the first stream comprising the bran and the germ in a tank to create a low-solids slurry, wherein a percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry comprises less than about 25%;

heating the low-solids slurry to increase temperature of the low-solids slurry to produce a heated low-solids slurry;

adding a chemical to the heated low-solids slurry to cause a reaction zone to occur to produce a chemically treated low-solids slurry; and

hydrolyzing and fermenting the chemically treated low-solids slurry to produce cellulosic beer using a cellulase enzyme complex cocktail in hydrolysis and an organism in fermentation;

sending the cellulosic beer to the fermentation tank; and

fermenting the second stream and the cellulosic beer in the fermentation tank.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry is in a range of about 10-25%.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the water comprises at least one of an evaporator condensate, a pretreatment condensate, condensate from a flash tank, or condensate from side stripper bottoms.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the increase of temperate comprises ranging from about 355 K to 478 K.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the chemical comprises at least one of a sulfuric acid, a phosphoric acid, or a nitric acid.

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein the hydrolyzing converts cellulose and hemicellulose to sugars in the low-solids slurry, at least 80% of the cellulose to glucose and converts at least 70% of the hemicellulose to monomeric components.

22. A method to treat corn feedstock in a dry grind process, the method comprising:

sending the corn feedstock through a milling device; subsequently,

forming a mash with the corn feedstock, the mash including a solids content between 18% and 40%; subsequently

fractionating the mash by using a mechanical separation device by separating components of the mash into a first stream comprising bran and germ from a second stream comprising starch and protein;

sending the first stream comprising the bran and the germ, which includes large, suspended solids through a shearing device to impart shear on the large, suspended solids;

sending the second stream to a fermentation tank;

pretreating the bran by adding water to the bran in a tank to create a low-solids slurry, wherein a percentage of solids in the low-solids slurry comprises less than about 25%;

heating the low-solids slurry to increase temperature of the low-solids slurry to create a heated low-solids slurry;

adding a chemical to the heated low-solids slurry to cause a reaction zone to occur and to create a chemically treated low-solids slurry;

hydrolyzing and fermenting the chemically treated low-solids slurry to produce cellulosic beer using a cellulase enzyme complex cocktail in hydrolysis and an organism in fermentation;

sending the cellulosic beer to the fermentation tank;

sending the germ to the fermentation tank; and

fermenting the second stream, the germ, and the cellulosic beer together in the fermentation tank.