Ethanol is commercially produced using either a wet mill or dry mill process. Wet milling involves separating the grain kernel into its component parts (germ, fiber, protein, and starch) prior to fermentation. ICM-designed plants utilize the dry mill process, where the entire grain kernel is ground into flour. The starch in the flour is converted to ethanol during the fermentation process, creating carbon dioxide and distillers grain.

Learn more about the Dry Mill Process when you mouse over the steps.

Delivery/Storage

Grain is delivered by truck or rail to the ethanol plant where it’s loaded in storage bins designed to hold enough grain to supply the plant for 7–10 days.

Milling

The grain is screened to remove debris, then ground into coarse flour.

Cooking (Hot Slurry, Primary Liquefaction, and Secondary Liquefaction)

During the cook process, the starch in the flour is physically and chemically prepared for fermentation.

Hot Slurry

The milled grain is mixed with process water, the pH is adjusted to about 5.8, and an alpha-amylase enzyme is added. The slurry is heated to 180–190°F for 30–45 minutes to reduce viscosity.

Primary Liquefaction

The slurry is then pumped through a pressurized jet cooker at 221°F and held for 5 minutes. The mixture is then cooled by an atmospheric or vacuum flash condenser.

Secondary Liquefaction

After the flash condensation cooling, the mixture is held for 1–2 hours at 180–190°F to give the alpha-amylase enzyme time to break down the starch into short chain dextrins.
After pH and temperature adjustment, a second enzyme, glucoamylase, is added as the mixture is pumped into the fermentation tanks.

Simultaneous Saccharification Fermentation

Once inside the fermentation tanks, the mixture is referred to as mash. The glucoamylase enzyme breaks down the dextrins to form simple sugars. Yeast is added to convert the sugar to ethanol and carbon dioxide. The mash is then allowed to ferment for 50–60 hours, resulting in a mixture that contains about 15% ethanol as well as the solids from the grain and added yeast.

Distillation

The fermented mash is pumped into a multi-column distillation system where additional heat is added. The columns utilize the differences in the boiling points of ethanol and water to boil off and separate the ethanol. By the time the product stream is ready to leave the distillation columns, it contains about 95% ethanol by volume (190-proof). The residue from this process, called stillage, contains non-fermentable solids and water and is pumped out from the bottom of the columns into the centrifuges.

Molecular Sieves

The 190-proof product stream is pumped into the molecular sieve system. These specialized tanks contain molecular sieve beads that adsorb water molecules from the process stream while ethanol molecules pass through unaffected. When the product stream leaves the molecular sieves, it contains approximately 99% ethanol by volume (200 proof).

Storage and Loadout

The 200-proof ethanol is pumped to on-site storage tanks where it is denatured and stored until it is ready to be shipped by tanker truck or rail.

Liquid/Solid separation

The stillage from the distillation system is pumped into centrifuges to separate the majority of the solid matter from the solution. This creates two products: A semi-solid product called wet cake is removed and conveyed to rotary dryers. A mostly-water process stream, called thin stillage, is pumped to the evaporation system.

Evaporation

The thin stillage from the centrifuges is pumped into a series of evaporators where a majority of the water in the solution is removed. The resulting product stream is called syrup. The syrup can be sold as a stand-alone product or added to the wet cake before moving into the dryer system.

DDGS Drying

The wet cake is conveyed to dryers where it is converted into a low-moisture (10-12%) product called dried distillers grains with solubles.