Utilising distillers' spent grains from cereal-based ethanol production - alternatives for realising economic and energy potential

The aim of the project was to analyse different ways of utilising the economic and energy values in wheat distillers’ grains with solubles from large-scale ethanol production. The analyses will focus on some important issues such as the ability to pay for the distillers’ grains with solubles, energy efficiency, marketing possibilities, effects of scale on the parameters analysed, etc. The systems that will be analysed are:

• drying for feed
• drying for combustion
• direct use as animal feed
• direct use as fertiliser
• use for biogas production including use of the digestate as fertiliser and treatment of the distillers’ grains with solubles with a weak acid to increase the ethanol yield by secondary fermentation and to possibly produce secondary distillers’ grains with solubles with a higher feed value.