Volumetric Scale-Up of a Packed-Bed Ion-Exchange System to Extract Phytate from Thin Stillage.

Cristiano E Rodrigues Reis,Bo Hu

doi:10.3390/membranes12020230

Abstract

Phytate is the main form of phosphorus in corn ethanol coproducts and poses digestion issues in monogastric-animal feed. Extracting phytate as a commodity chemical will bring extra revenue to the corn ethanol industry and reduces potential phosphorus pollution from livestock waste management. We assessed a simplified scale-up approach of an ion-exchange separation system applied to extract phytate from thin stillage using volumetric parameters and simplifications of the van Deemter model. Thin stillage is one of the main byproducts generated on dry-grind corn-to-ethanol plants and accounts for the liquid portion of the bottom product generated in the ethanol distillation process. Thin stillage is rich in dissolved phytate, which served as the basis for an ion-exchange extraction system developed with a scalability factor of 50. Under the evaluated conditions, similar breakthrough profiles were obtained when similar Péclet and Stanton numbers were maintained for the scales studied, demonstrating that a simple and straightforward scale-up can be attained if special attention is given to maintaining both parameters as the basis of calculations of the plate numbers of ion-exchange columns.

Highlights

The largest portion of organic phosphorus in dried distiller grains with solubles is phytate
Thin stillage is one of the main byproducts generated on dry-grind corn-to-ethanol plants and accounts for the liquid portion of the bottom product generated in the ethanol distillation process [6]
We previously disclosed a laboratory-scale study of extracting the main form of phosphorus from thin stillage, i.e., phytate, at high purities using ion-exchange resins [7–9] in order to potentially decrease the concentration of undigestible phosphorus in animal feed

Summary

Introduction

The largest portion of organic phosphorus in dried distiller grains with solubles is phytate. Phytate is the main storage form of phosphorus in many plant tissues in many seeds, grains, and cereals, such as corn [1]. Thin stillage is one of the main byproducts generated on dry-grind corn-to-ethanol plants and accounts for the liquid portion of the bottom product generated in the ethanol distillation process [6]. We previously disclosed a laboratory-scale study of extracting the main form of phosphorus from thin stillage, i.e., phytate, at high purities using ion-exchange resins [7–9] in order to potentially decrease the concentration of undigestible phosphorus in animal feed. The phytate removal process is likely to produce a value-added compound and to significantly decrease the concentration of phosphorus in animal feed that is generated at the end of the downstream ethanol process

Methods

Results

Conclusion