380 The “quick fiber” process: Effect of temperature, specific gravity and percentage of residual germ.

J. WAHJUDI (1), Li Xu (1), Ping Wang (1), P. Buriak (1), V. Singh (1), M. E. Tumbleson (2), K. D. Rausch (1), and S. R. Eckhoff (1). (1) Graduate Research Assistant, Academic Hourly, Academic Hourly, Professor, Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, and Professor, respectively, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801; (2) Professor, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 60802.

Recent research showed that the recovery of the pericarp fiber prior to the fermentation in the dry grind ethanol facility, known as “Quick Fiber” process, increases the capacity of fermenter and reduces the production cost by 6–8 cents/gallon of ethanol. The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate the fiber recovery process. The pericarp fiber was recovered by floatation and skimming, while maintaining the specified temperature and specific gravity of the mash. The investigated variables were: temperature (30 , 45 , 60 C), specific gravity (11, 12, 13 Bé), and the percent of residual germ in the mash (0 and 15%). The desired specific gravity of the mash was achieved by adding certain weight of starch into the mash. The dependent variables were percent of dry matter and the amount of pure fiber in the skimmed fiber. Higher temperature corresponds to less starch required to reach the same specific gravity of the mash. The maximum standard deviation of 0.74% was observed when testing the reproducibility of the test procedure by measuring the percent of dry matter recovered in the skimmed fiber.