Yeast and protein recovery from an ethanol fermentation process

摘要

A process for recovering a proteinaceous material comprises: i) forming an mixture of a fermentable organic material and a fermentation agent such a yeast; ii) fermenting the mixture to produce ethanol 20; iii) recovering from the fermented mixture a stream rich in ethanol and a co-product stream comprising unfermented organic material, fermentation agent and an aqueous solution of dissolved solids 22; iv) separating the co-product stream to recover a stream rich in the unfermented organic material and a stream comprising the fermentation agent suspended in the aqueous solution 46; and v) separating the unfermented organic material stream so that at least part of the fiber in the unfermented organic material is removed from the unfermented organic material to leave a protein rich material. The fibre may be separated from the protein by enzymatic hydrolysis 60. An animal feed and an apparatus for producing ethanol are also disclosed.