Thin stillage (TS), the residual liquid material following distillation of ethanol, is an underutilized coproduct from the starch biofuel industry. This carbon-rich material has the potential for chemical upgrading by microorganisms.
What is stillage syrup?
Whole stillage (WS) is centrifuged to form a liquid fraction which is called thin stillage (TS), and the solid fraction that is wet distiller grains (WDG). The thin stillage is further condensed by removing water through an evaporator to form syrup which is known as condensed distillers solubles (CDS).
What does thin stillage mean?
What Is Thin Stillage? Thin stillage evaporation concentrates a process stream consisting of water and dissolved solids. The process is most common in the ethanol industry, with the dissolved solids coming from the corn used to make ethanol. Undissolved solids typically have already been removed using a centrifuge.
What is the purpose of thin stillage evaporators in ethanol production?
The thin stillage evaporators allow the ethanol plant to concentrate up the dissolved solids, to either go to a dryer or sold as syrup. The dissolved solids come upstream from the fermentation process and consist of solids not digested in the ethanol fermenters.
What is the difference between whole stillage and thin stillage?
A stream that consists of both dissolved and undissolved solids is commonly known as whole stillage, a stream with just dissolved solids is thin stillage, while the concentrated thin stillage is referred to as syrup.
What is thickenthin stillage evaporation?
Thin stillage evaporation concentrates a process stream consisting of water and dissolved solids. The process is most common in the ethanol industry, with the dissolved solids coming from the corn used to make ethanol. Undissolved solids typically have already been removed using a centrifuge.
How is thin stillage concentrated?
The thin stillage is concentrated by evaporating off the water, leaving a more concentrated stream. The process often requires multiple stages of evaporation and multiple effects to reduce the amount of heating media (steam) required. Each time the process fluid is concentrated through evaporation, it’s considered one stage of evaporation.
