Stillage Processing


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Whole/Thin Stillage fractionation and clarification provides product enhancement and efficiency improvements in ethanol production.  SmartFlow Technologies has provided integrated systems incorporating the patented ConSep® II HTTFF™(High Temperature Tangential Flow Filtration) module to completely remove and process the suspended solids in whole/thin stillage in the ethanol production process.

The SmartFlow HTTFF™ solution was rigorously run in continuous operations for over 3 years at an 70 MMgy corn ethanol facility, performing to or above specifications driving an incredible ROI. The benefits observed with the solids retention include:

  • Higher oil recoveries
  • Reduced de-emulsification chemical use
  • Reduced evaporator energy consumption
  • Significantly reduced evaporator fouling
  • Enabling technology to facilitate reduction of Carbon Intensity Score
  • Minimized TSS sent to evaporator and backset stream
  • Captures a highly digestible protein stream that can be converted to feed
  • Enables tuning for optimal enzyme dosing (small fines removed by absolute filtration technology)
  • Decrease suspended solids in backset
Thin Stillage Processing Compilation
Centrifuged samples during concentraiton
Thin Stillage-Increasing solids and oil expression

The robust ConSep® II module has been operating in HTTFF™ mode at commercial scale, performing 24/7 at 80 °C for years reliably.  The reinforced module design is responsible for the sustained performance and longevity of the ConSep® II filter, which is unprecedented in the industry.

SmartFlow Technologies, Inc. is a technology and process integrator that will design, build, and commission ConSep® II systems to match plant and process objectives. 
A few examples of processing ethanol stillage inputs with ConSep® II filters at the lab level are contained on this page. The video demonstrates the capability of the ConSep® II platform rather than a particular customer application. The ConSep® II platform is linearly scalable, so these and similar processes can be scaled to any production volume.

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Thin Stillage-oil separation in stream and high solids for drying
Thin Stillage-starting, concentrate, permeate, and high solids for drying

New White Paper - High Temperature Tangential Flow Filtration

Press Release ConSep II® Filter Module for Fermentation and High Temperature Cross Flow Filtration