DISTILLED
`
`Balancing Act
`Golden Grain finds corn
`oil yield sweet spot
`
`A chemical corn oil extraction aid has
`helped a Mason City, Iowa, ethanol plant in(cid:173)
`crease its corn oil yield dramatically. "It's prob(cid:173)
`ably about doubled the amount of corn oil
`that we get out of the plant on a weekly basis,"
`says Chad Kubler, chief operations officer of
`Golden Grain Energy LLC. "It's providing a
`very good return based upon these current
`
`corn oil prices." He adds that, based on the
`corn oil prices in June, Golden Grain was gain(cid:173)
`ing $2 for every $1 it spent on the technology.
`The back-end corn oil extraction aid
`comes from Ashland Hercules Water Technol(cid:173)
`ogies, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc. The
`chemical is added to the process after distilla(cid:173)
`tion, to the syrup being separated into corn oil
`and distillers grains and works by improving
`the release of oil during mechanical extraction,
`says McCord Pankonen, global biorefining
`marketing manager, water technologies. The
`resulting oil contains less solids and means a
`reduction of system deposits, adding up to less
`downtime for cleaning and main(cid:173)
`tenance.
`Golden Grain fust began
`testing Ashland's product in Oc(cid:173)
`tober. Though it produced some
`good results, the 80 MMgy ethanol
`plant did its due diligence and test(cid:173)
`ed other products as well, Kuhlers
`says. In March, the company set(cid:173)
`tled on Ashland's patent-pending
`extraction aid. In May, Ashland
`worked with Golden Grain to
`smooth out some challenges by
`providing the ethanol plant with a
`controller to more accurately dose
`the chemical. "Since that time it
`has been basically turned on full
`time," he says.
`
`Before and After Com oil on the left was extracted
`before the extraction aid was used, and is compared to
`the extraction using the technology on the right.
`
`Ethanol production facilities interested in
`increasing corn oil extraction numbers need to
`evaluate all potential suppliers. Each technol(cid:173)
`ogy is different and will fit in differently with
`the needs of various plants. Still, Kuhlers can
`say Golden Grain is pleased with what Ash(cid:173)
`land's corn oil extraction aid has done for that
`company. ''At least for our system, it needed
`something in order to get the system to per(cid:173)
`form more as designed," he says. Removing
`more corn oil does push down the protein/
`fat numbers in the plant's distillers grains. It's
`important that an ethanol plant going for
`higher corn oil extraction numbers understand
`its customers' needs or it will lose business. So
`far, he says, the company's increased corn oil
`yield has had no negative impact on its distill(cid:173)
`ers grains sales. -Ho/fy Jessen
`
`Where it Fits A schematic diagram shows where the Ashland corn oil
`extraction aid is used in the ethanol production process.
`
`SOURCE: ASHLAND INC
`
`46 I Ethanol Producer Magazine I AUGUST 2011
`
`SOLENIS EXHIBIT 2021
`Hydrite v. Solenis, IPR2015-01592