Driving DCO Up and Natural Gas Usage Down

ICM is taking a unique approach to corn oil maximization with its FOT Oil Recovery technology by focusing on solid and liquid separation. Chris Gerken, commercial application scientist with ICM, explains that FOT is a proprietary process that improves solids separation in the whole stillage, reduces the fat content in the wet cake and provides BTU reductions at the dryers. In onsite trials, the technology increases plant oil recovery up to 20%, depending on the plant’s current process. Gerken notes that some plants may have even greater opportunities.

FOT Oil Recovery Technology uses a two-part separation process integrated post distillation, the first component utilizes Flottweg’s proprietary scroll exclusive to the FOT system to provide more efficient separation of solids and liquids. The result is an evaporator feed with higher fat and lower suspended solids, which allows for more effective evaporator function, and an “ultra-dry cake.” The cake will then go to the protein retention tank, which works as dilution extraction utilizing clean process water already in the plant. It will then be mixed; fats will disassociate from the solids and float to the surface.

“By installing [FOT] you’re going to improve your oil recovery, you’re going to improve your plant efficiency, so you’re going to be making more money off of what you have,” Gerken says. “And you’re going to be making a better feed product for the dryer. You’re washing out salts, sugars, other contaminants in the cake, reducing Maillard Formation potential to the dryer, it’s just a much better feed presentation to the dryer.”

He explains that plants will see a beneficial BTU reduction, lowering energy usage with the introduction of FOT, due to the cake being drier going into the dryer.

“It doesn’t matter if the plant has a rotary gas dryer, a steam tube dryer, a ring dryer, they’re going to see a benefit in BTU reduction, water load reduction to the dryer,” Gerken says.

In order to install FOT Oil Recovery Technology, a plant must already have an oil recovery system of some kind, either a disc stack or a tricanter centrifuge will benefit from the technology. For interested producers, Gerken explains that ICM is able to bring the Flottweg decanter onsite in a portable trailer as part of an overall plant oil tracing evaluation, which tests, among other things, how their FOT technology will impact the plant’s specific process.

Not only does FOT provide corn oil recovery improvements, but it also gives producers an opportunity to use the technology as a steppingstone to high protein feed production. ICM’s Advanced Processing Package allows producers to expand their product portfolio and produce high protein feed. Gerken explains that the APP is made up of four core technologies, Selective Milling Technology (SMT), Fiber Separation Technology (FST), FOT Oil Recover Technology and Thin Stillage Solids Separation System (TS4).

Like FOT, each of these technologies can bring benefits to the plant independently, but together create a high quality, high protein feed. Installing FOT Oil Recovery gives producers the quick return on investment of improved oil yields, natural gas savings, and reduced energy costs, while allowing them to prepare for future products if they are interested down the road. High DCO prices are encouraging producers to take the leap in investing in technologies to improve DCO recovery, and Gerken is confident that the “economics are desirable,” even if prices dropped by 10 or 20 cents.

“Distillers [corn oil] is on fire right now. Is that going to change? It might, but it’s not going to impact whether or not this makes money,” Gerken says.