Owing to the increasing demand for alternative fuel additives, the Canadian ethanol industry has grown tremendously. In Western Canada, wheat has been the dominant feedstock for ethanol production because of steadily increasing domestic production and higher ethanol yields. Low protein and high starch wheat varieties have further increased the potential of grain-based ethanol production. As a consequence, the increased ethanol production has demonstrated an exponential increase in the availability of its co-products. Depending on the processes used, several co-products are produced, such as bran, condensed distillers solubles (CDS), and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). Wheat bran is obtained as the co-product when debranning is incorporated in ethanol production.
Debranning of wheat feedstock may be integrated into the ethanol production process to improve ethanol quality and yield. Debranning follows the principles of abrasion and friction. It improves the starch content of the feedstock and the fermentation efficiency of the ethanol plants. Several abrasive equipment that generate products having good quality and desirable ethanol yield are being used commercially. Among these, the Satake mill and the tangential abrasive dehulling device (TADD) are prominent, having high debranning efficiency, levels of sanitation, and improved production rates. In this thesis, the laboratory debranning process using these two equipment was optimized by varying the process variables in order to improve the ethanol production process. In the Satake mill, the sample size (30 and 200 g), rotational speed (1215, 1412, and 1515 rpm), grit size (30, 36, and 40), and retention time (30, 60, and 90 s) were varied. In the TADD mill, the sample size (30 and 200 g), grit size (30, 36, 50, and 80), and retention time (120, 180, 240, and 300 s) were varied while maintaining a constant rotational speed of 900 rpm. The experimental results indicated that in the Satake mill, 200 g sample size, 1515 rpm rotational speed, 30 grit size, and 60 s retention time provided optimal debranning and starch separation efficiency. For the TADD mill, 200 g sample size, 900 rpm rotational speed, 50 grit size, and 240 s retention time provided optimal results.
Increased availability of ethanol co-products from the pretreatments and other processes brings forth the need for broadening the areas of application of these co-products. Among the various applications, the usage of the co-products as animal feed is predominant. Ethanol co-products have been traditionally incorporated as ingredients for animal feed. This thesis is aimed at combining the wheat bran and CDS in varying proportions (70:30, 80:20, and 90:10) and producing high quality animal feed pellets. Laboratory-scale pelleting was done at varying pelleting temperatures, 60, 75, and 90°C, to optimize the pelleting process. The results of laboratory-scale single pelleting indicated that 90:10 bran-CDS ratio and 90°C pelleting temperature produced pellets having good physical properties. Pilot-scale pelleting was done to verify the optimized variables, and to produce dimensionally stable and highly durable feed pellets. The results showed that 70:30 bran-CDS mixture produced pellets with high nutrient content and physical properties (760.88±2.04 kg/m3 bulk density and 97.79±0.76% durability). Similar to the single pelleting results, high pelleting temperatures (75°C) produced pellets with desirable physical properties. However, on cooling, the bulk density and durability change was the highest for 70:30 bran-CDS pellets, indicating an improvement in the physical characteristics. In conclusion, the bran and CDS, the two co-products of the ethanol industry, could be combined to produce feed pellets having good physical and nutritional properties.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:ecommons.usask.ca:10388/ETD-2012-07-791 |
| Date | 2012 July 1900 |
| Contributors | TABIL, LOPE G., MEDA, VENKATESH |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, thesis |
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