WO2008116278A1

WO2008116278A1 - Animal food based on dehydrated vinasse and oil seed cake

Info

Publication number: WO2008116278A1
Application number: PCT/BR2008/000086
Authority: WO
Inventors: Felipe Rodrigues Petterle
Original assignee: Felipe Rodrigues Petterle
Priority date: 2007-03-28
Filing date: 2008-03-25
Publication date: 2008-10-02
Also published as: BRPI0702083A

Abstract

The invention concerns the process of manufacturing animal feed based on dehydrated vinasse and oil seed cake comprising the mixture of both components. The vinasse results from an alcohol manufacturing process and the oil seed cake from the manufacture of bio- diesel and/ or the extraction of oil.

Description

Animal food based on dehydrated vinasse and oil seed cake

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The following descriptive report on the application of the present invention refers to developing an animal feed and concentrate manufacturing process, especially, comprehending the addition of the "bran" to the resulting dehydrated vinasse as a basic raw material, the vinasse being obtained from the alcohol manufacturing process, the bran from the manufacture of bio-diesel and/or extraction of oils with the addition of urea, salt, and other micronutrients.

STATE OF THE ART

On November 14, 1975, the Brazilian government implemented a plan for production of alcohol fueled engines and a large-scale production of anhydrous alcohol. The plan was named PRO-ALCOHOL. After the production started, the quality of alcohol fueled engines had been slowly increasing until, 15 years later, it was the same as (and even better than) the performance of gas fueled engines. The characteristics of the engine projected to burn gasoline (so called "Otto" cycle) are different from those of the engine projected to bum alcohol. That continuous development stopped when the Pro-Aicohol went out of existence.

Having managed to manufacture alcohol fueled engines whose performance was better than that of gas fueled engines of the same engine displacement was an entirely Brazilian technological feat, the only one in the world in the 80's. Nowadays, the United States and Germany have already seen the need to use alcohol as fuel not for the usual reason of depletion of oil deposits but because of the high emission of pollutants caused by their enormous fleet of automobiles. In the United States, for example, the engines that bum methylic alcohol or methanol (CH3-OH) obtained from corn, a process that is a lot more expensive than the Brazilian one based on sugarcane, were developed. The Diesel engines (so called "Diesel cycle") can also be converted to burn ethanol by means of a process developed and patented in 1977 by Sao Carlos University of Sao Paulo, State of Sao Paulo. It is therefore possible to reduce the very high emission of solid particles and of the rest of polluting gases by buses and trucks.

The production of alcohol is carried out in parallel with the production of sugar at sugarcane mills. There are 324 sugarcane mills in Brazil, out of which 133 are located in the state of Sao Paulo. Last decade, at the height of the Pro- Alcohol, sugarcane mills were set up for exclusive production of alcohol, the so called autonomous mills. The agricultural aspect developed as well increasing the production of sugarcane per hectare, so that the production of alcohol grew from 3,800 liters to 6,000 liters per hectare per harvest. Also, the use of vinasse to irrigate sugarcane plantations became common as well, and some mills started to fully use sugarcane bagasse, which is what is left after the sugarcane is crushed in the grinders to extract its juice.

The industrial production of alcohol generates 12 to 15 liters of vinasse per liter of distilled alcohol.

Vinasse, cane-vinasse or redistillation residue is a viscous and bad-smelling residue that remains after the fractioned distillation of sugarcane juice to obtain ethanol (ethylic alcohol). It is a concentrate of mineral salts, some organic products, and water derived from the distillation process of the fermented must (fermenting juice of any sugary fruit). That's how rum, vodka, whiskey, and Brazilian cachaca are produced. Raw materials, some processing details are different, but the essence is the same.

The sugars of a liquid are transformed into alcohol by microorganisms - the ferment. Water, ferment, mineral salts, and some inevitable organic compounds different from ethanol form "wine" which will be distilled. A distillation column separates the fraction of interest, which is ethanol. The rest is vinasse.

The use of vinasse as fertilizer added to irrigation water is a solution that has been used to meet the demand for this byproduct. There happen to be two independent situations - the production and the consumption of the vinasse. The consumption depends on the field conditions and not on the production of the distillery, which forces the distillery to "store if in a pond, waiting for the opportunity to apply it in the field. In cases in which these ponds get out of control, and there are quite a few examples when the vinasse overflowed, the liquid goes down its inexorable path towards a watercourse. When this takes place, a serious environmental accident is brought about, because the distillation residue constitutes a serious source of pollution. However, it may be used as fertilizer, animal feed or in the production of biogas.

While researching the state-of-the-art relevant to the technical field of the invention, several documents of the patents for varied uses of the vinasse were found.

The Patent BRPI 0.401 -563 of Pachere et alii describes a process and equipment both for producing organic mineral fertilizer from vinasse and for recovering either clean water for direct industrial or agricultural application or drinking water after adequate treatment. The process consists of one stage at which the vinasse pH is corrected before the next stage when it is treated by the adequate equipment which, through an electric arc and its disposition generates an electric discharge producing enough energy to degrade the organic material of the vinasse, then the vinasse with its degraded organic material is taken to another part of the equipment composed of an almost instantaneous evaporation column; next, after evaporation, the gaseous phase may be or may be not condensed recovering the energy by reusing the water vapor in the industrial process of the sugarcane mill, or recovering the energy by condensing the water vapors that may be reused in the industrial process of the mill, made available for industrial or agricultural use or taken for further treatment to obtain drinking water; the effluent residue of the evaporation column of the equipment, which is the vinasse with its degraded organic material already concentrated and in the viscous form, is taken to a stage at which mineral fertilizers are added, the resulting product being granulated or extruded, dried and made available for further use. The equipment consists of two sectors: a sector of degradation of the organic matter contained in the vinasse, which consists of one or a sequence of chutes or boxes with electrodes, that generate electric discharges, distributed therein; and a sector of evaporation of water contained in the vinasse, which consists of two sections: one of coils for previous heating and partial evaporation ot the water, and the other with one or more grates of narrowly intertwined wires for dispersion of the vinasse over it/them, each one of them being heated from below for practically instantaneous evaporation of a large part of the water contained therein.

The certificate of the addendum to the invention BRCI 0.401.563 of Pachere et alii relating to the sector of fertilizers, refers to the alternative option of a furnace of the equipment for treating the vinasse resulting from the production of sugar, alcohol, and brandy, and to the option for obtaining a product for animal feed in addition to the initially claimed one. The later studies, now included in this addendum to the original patent, showed the possibility of evaporating the water contained in the vinasse by other means in the sector of evaporation, involving the application of open fire from a furnace or a boiler in the sector of evaporation, with or without using a grate or a set of grates, coils, a set of horizontal or vertical tubes (curtains) and racks, a modification in the equipment being enough for this, so as to generate the open fire. The source of heat for the application of the open fire, although the use of the sugarcane bagasse is recommended, may be firewood, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, coal, coal powder, and dowtherm heating systems. The concentrate is taken for the correction of pH, if necessary, starting the process as described in the BRPIO.401.563.

Also, there is a known method for obtaining a plant protection product and a plant growth stimulator described in the BRPI 9.104.361 of Hiroshi, characterized by: using undecomposed liquid effluents of the alcohol industry (vinasse) from any raw material used in the manufacture of alcohol such as: sugarcane, manioc, potatoes, and others, and containing a small natural quantity of diluted alcohol; adding molasses, organic acids, and alcohol to the liquid effluent of the alcohol industry; and subjecting the mixture of the liquid effluent of the alcohol industry plus molasses, organic acids, and alcohol to the accelerated process of esterification through the culture of photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid producing bacteria, yeasts, and actinomycetes in a hermetically closed environment with no ventilation and for a period of time "t" determined by the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the elements used in the mixture.

Another patent, BRPI 9.201.673 of Piatti, describes and discloses a process for manufacturing a liquid organic mineral fertilizer by using the residues (a filter and vinasse cake) enriched with nitrogen resulting in a liquid fertilizer of easy distribution in the field, economical, rich in nitrogen and potassium, with a good agronomic response, slow release of nutrients, to which other elements (nutrients) necessary for the crop they are intended for will be added.

The obtainment of the vinasse limestone to be used as a corrective capable of increasing the quantities of organic matter in the soil in addition to stimulating the development of microorganisms, a larger retention of humidity and improvement in the texture conditions of the soil is described in the BRPI 9.304.91 5 of Araujo according to which, in general, the vinasse limestone is composed of a mixture of vinasse, hydrated lime, gypsum, vegetal and animal remains, presenting CaO =39.2%, MgO = 25.9%, MO = 5.0%, and Prnt = 123.7%.

A lot more important is the patent BRPI 8.700.131 of Kirzner that describes a process for treating vinasse and the like applicable to the vinasse (juice or distillation residue) from distilleries of alcohol of brandy or any other liquid that contains alcohol, products of sugarcane juice fermentation, molasses, tubercles, cereals, fruit, sorghum, cellulose, and any other raw materials of vegetal origin, even those that have undergone chemical hydrolysis processes, as well as to the effluents of industries that make use of raw materials of animal origin such as dairy products industries, tanneries, slaughter houses, sewerage systems, etc.

The process for treating vinasse and the like begins in the fermented must and uses two reagents: the first one composed of from oxides to hydroxides of alkaline earth metals (unactivated) that act chemically on the effluents neutralizing and/or alkalizing the acidity of the environment; and the second one composed of oxides and hydroxides of alkaline earth metals (activated) which, through physical-chemical action of adsorption, causes the flocculation of the putrefiable organic colloids contained in the effluents reducing the biochemical oxygen demand of the residual liquid obtained by filtration in up to 97% of the original BOD; the process for treating vinasse and the like is complemented by obtaining an organic mineral cake that may be consumed as animal feed or organic mineral fertilizer for crops, and by obtaining a residual liquid that may be used for irrigating the crops or disposed of in watercourses as an emergency or even permanently without the harmful pollution endangering the water fauna since the international regulations of the sanitary engineering that ensure a minimum of oxygen dissolved in the running water are complied with.

The integrated process for manufacturing animal feed by explosive hydrolysis of enriched sugarcane bagasse described in the Pl 8.501-790 of Valadares et alii is of the same importance, according to which yeasts from the bottom of the alcoholic fermentation tub, cells from fermentation of sugars such as pentoses and hexoses, and, optionally, anaerobic microorganisms recovered from the effluent of the vinasse biodigester are added to the sugarcane bagasse. The bagasse is hydrolyzed by steam flashing. The solid phase separated from the hydrolysate constitutes the animal feed, the liquid phase is fermented by torula utilis after receiving nutrients, and the fermentation product is separated into two phases: the solid, proteinic phase is added to the bagasse in the hydrolysis reactor, and the liquid, residual phase added to the vinasse for biodigestion in the said biodigester.

DISCUSSION OF THE STATE OF THE ART

As may be determined by the accessible state of the art, the vinasse may be used for manufacturing other products in addition to the simple use as liquid fertilizer sprinkled on crops.

The manufacture of animal feed is provided for in the patents BRPI 8.705.131 and BRPI 8.501.790. But Kirzner does not mention the decantation by chemical agents in order to separate the solid phase of the vinasse from the liquid one. The addition of bran resulting from other processes such as the biodiesel production is not mentioned either. Valadares uses the sugarcane bagasse to manufacture animal feed.

SOLUTION PROPOSED BY THE INVENTION

Therefore, due to the considerations relative to the state of the art discussed above, one of the objectives of the application of this invention is to develop a process for manufacturing animal feed and concentrates obtained from the vinasse or distillation residue in which the liquid is precipitated by flocculation and then the sedimented part is decanted, this sedimenentous and insoluble part being dried to manufacture the animal feed.

The concept of the process is to join alcohol/sugar industries, biodiesel/oi! extraction industries into one industrial complex in order to produce low-cost animal feed on a large scale from their integrated liquid residue and sub- products, thus eliminating environmental hazards, generating market for different types of bran produced, increasing the energy/vapor production scale, and generating other new products depending on the kind and origin of the raw material.

When alcohol and sugar are manufactured regardless of whether by means of saccharose, amid, cellulose or the like, the vinasse resulting from the industrial process is produced. In the proposed process, this vinasse undergoes the process of separation of the water from the rest of the components, either by forced evaporation or by inducing the decantation of the particulates through chemical or biological agents for the purpose of:

- Reusing water in the industrial process;

- Using the product resulting from the water separation for manufacturing the animal feed;

- Fertilization/irrigation; and - Biogas.

When producing biodiesel and extracting oil, such sub-products as glycerol and bran are generated from the oil extraction.

- If the transesterification is utilized, Glycerol is used for for the bio-LFP production. Glycerol is not produced if the bio-TF is used;

- Bran - all the production of bran is intended for manufacturing animal feed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MANNER OF IMPLEMENTING THE INVENTION

The invention proposed in this report is characterized by describing different stages that are necessary for implementation of this application in question so that it can be fully reproduced by means of an adequate technique allowing the functionality of the claimed process to be fully characterized.

The descriptive part of the report is founded on the different stages described herein that express the best manner or a preferential manner of performing the process idealized herein, clarifying the aspects that may be implied so that the protection claimed herein can be clearly determined.

These operations may vary since they do not deviate from what has been initially claimed.

In this case, the products may be generated by different operations.

The proposed process depends on vinasse. The latter is obtained from a distillery's process of the alcohol manufacture by means of the specific tubes and/or by other adequate means. It is conditioned in dams/reservoirs in order to collect biogas and/or intended for the industrial evaporation process for further dehydration by direct evaporation or by a multi-stage process, and/or to be treated for decantation of the solid part by chemical or biological means until the total solids reach a percentage of 30 to 65%. The water removed at this stage goes back to the process of the distillery for other purposes or is disposed of since it meets the environmental parameters required for the disposal of used water. After this procedure, the solid part removed from the vinasse is ready to be used for manufacturing the animal feed.

The bran resulting from the bio-diesel manufacturing process and/or from oil extraction industries such as oleaginous cereals and seeds, pine nuts, fodder turnip, corn sprouts, rice bran, etc. is received by means of a conveyor belt, thread system, sea, road or railway systems of transportation of solids, and is conditioned in intermediary silos for further extraction of the oil, either by cold extraction or by chemical extraction. After these processes, the product remaining from the process is ready to be used for manufacturing animal feed.

Depending on the raw material to be used, nutritional complements, voluminous foods, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and minerals can be incorporated into the process for manufacturing animal feed from the vinasse and bran for the purpose of balancing the end product, depending also on its application whether for use in cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, poultry, or others.

The already treated and prepared vinasse, bran, and other incorporated nutrients are taken to the mixer(s), their mixture being balanced in accordance with the source of the raw material in order to obtain alcohol that may come from saccharose from sugarcane, beetroots, and other sources of saccharose; from the amid from rice, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, manioc, sorghum, wheat, and other sources of amid; and from the cellulose.

On the other hand, the source of the raw material for the bio-diesel extraction may be any kind of oleaginous seeds or grains, for example, soybeans, sunflower, canola, colza, rice, corn, wheat, sorghum, cotton, peanuts, castor beans, etc., and also from other sources such as pine nuts, fodder turnip, palm trees, etc.

The animal feed resulting from the mixture of these two manners of production serves to feed cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry. The kind of raw material used for the production of alcohol and for the oil extraction have different physical-chemical and nutritional characteristics, the proportionality of the composition of this mixture and the balance of the addition of other nutrients in adequate quantities and proportions in order to meet the organic requirements and obtain better rates of weight gain, and optimize the character of animal digestibility being of paramount importance.

The balance of the feed determines the relation volume x concentrate necessary for each kind of animal and for the weight gain rate. Greater weight gain rates require a larger energetic concentration of the feed: feed rich in structural carbohydrates or energetic fibers (from 7 - 9 MegaJoules- MJ of metabolizable energy/kg of dry matter) or soybean cake (around 12 MJ of metabolizable energy/kg of dry matter), for example.

In addition to energy, the balance of the feed must take the protein into consideration. The protein necessary for the microorganisms of the rumen and that necessary for the cattle must be considered when balancing the protein. Currently, the concept of the digestible protein (DP) for the feed balance has been replaced by the concepts of the protein or digestible protein (RDP), and rumen undegradable protein (RUP) or protein digestible in the intestines, or, still, by the concept of the metabolizable protein.

Mineral and vitamins are added to the feed in proportions sufficient to meet the organic requirements for cattle and other animals. Besides, the feed may include such additives as buffering agents, ionophores, appetizing additives, etc.

The table 1 shows the content of the dry matter (DM), metabolizable energy (ME), gross protein (GP), and degradability of the rumen protein (%) in some feeds. The table 2 shows the nutritional requirements for metabolizable energy (MJ/day) of the feed for small-, medium, and large-sized bullocks considering the energetic concentration of the feed (M)¹.

Thermal shocks may be applied during the manufacturing process for better homogenization and/or pasteurization aiming at a more uniform mixture and/or eliminating the fermentation interferences. Depending on the developed composition, chemical and/or biological agents may be used for controlling possible fermentation and/or improving the conservation capability.

The proportions of addition of the bran will be in the order of 0.1 % to 30% with relation to the vinasse "in natura".

The methods of the final balance of the feed complies with the methods of the proteins or Pearson's table, algebraic process, mathematical model, trial and error method, and linear programming, formulation of the feed for ruminants or non-ruminants, use of additives, growth agents, and ionophores, and anabolic steroids, formulas to calculate the energy of the protein and total digestible nutrients (TDN) of the bran and nutrients used in the process, tables of nutrient requirements (TNR), and tables of chemical composition of the bran and vinasse.

The process for manufacturing animal feed and concentrates proposed in this patent has an innovative concept of using liquid effluents from alcohol distilleries, the bran from mills of bio-diesel and extraction of complementary oils as raw material, thus reducing significantly the environmental hazards caused by distilleries, ensuring the market for different kinds of bran, offering large quantities of low cost feed and concentrates, and making viable the integration of the bio-fuels and agro-industrial sectors, becoming an innovative and attractive alternative. Table 1

Table 2

Large-Sized Cattle Breeds Medium-Sizec Cattle Breeds Small-Sized < Dattle Breeds weight gain in kg LW/day weight gain in kg LW/day weight gain in kg LW/da}

M (MJ EM/Kg Live DM weight 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 (Kg)

200 27 37 53 - 27 39 59 - 27 42 66 -

300 36 49 68 - 36 52 76 - 36 54 85 -

400 44 62 83 - 44 63 92 - 44 65 108 -

500 51 69 96 - 51 73 107 - 51 76 119 -

200 26 35 47 65 26 36 51 76 26 38 56 89

300 34 45 61 84 34 48 67 97 34 50 73 112

400 42 55 74 101 42 58 80 117 42 60 88 135

500 48 64 86 117 48 67 94 135 48 70 102 .156

600 55 72 97 132 55 76 106 152 55 79 115 176

Claims

1. THE PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING ANIMAL FEED AND CONCENTRATES characterized by the fact that the "bran" is incorporated into the resulting dehydrated vinasse as a basic raw material, the vinasse resulting from the alcohol manufacturing process, and the bran from the manufacture of bio-diesel and extraction of oils, with addition of urea, salt, and other micron utrients.

2. THE PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING ANIMAL FEED AND CONCENTRATES, as claimed in 01 , using vinasse or distillation residue, characterized by the fact that the liquid is precipitated by flocculation and then the sedimented part is decanted, this sedimentous and insoluble part being partially or wholly dried participating as an integral component of the animal feed.

3. THE PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING ANIMAL FEED AND CONCENTRATES, as claimed in 01 and characterized by the fact that the bran resulting from the bio-diesel manufacturing process and/or oil extraction industries such as oleaginous cereals and seeds, pine nuts, fodder turnip, etc. is used as another integral part of the animal feed.

4. THE PROCESS as claimed in 02 and characterized by the fact that the vinasse is obtained from a distillery's alcohol manufacturing process by means of specific tubes and/or by other adequate means, is conditioned in dams/reservoirs in order to collect biogas and/or is intended for the industrial evaporation process for further dehydration by direct evaporation or by a multistage process, and/or is treated for decantation of the solid part by chemical or biological agents until total solids reach a percentage of 30 to 65%.

5. THE PROCESS as claimed in 04 and characterized by the fact that the water removed at this stage returns to the process of the distillery for other purposes or is disposed of.

6. THE PROCESS as claimed in 01 and characterized by the fact that the proportions of addition of the bran will be in the order of 0.1% to 30% with relation to the vinasse "in natura".

7. THE PROCESS as claimed in 01 and characterized by the fact that the nutritional complements, voluminous foods, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and minerals may be added to the process for manufacturing the animal feed from the vinasse and the bran for the purpose of balancing the end product also depending on its use whether for cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, poultry or others.

8. THE PROCESS as claimed in 07 and characterized by the fact that the animal feed may also include such additives as buffering agents, ionospheres, appetizing agents, etc.