摘要 |
In a continuous fermentation of sugar-containing mash to ethyl alcohol using a yeast, the activity of the yeast is maintained by (a) maintaining the fermenting mash containing a flocculating yeast in a state of motion in a fermentation stage; (b) continuously separating the yeast from the, at least partially, fermented mash in a sedimentation stage; (c) dividing the yeast into a recycle yeast and a yeast crop; and (d) recycling the recycle yeast in a homogenized state to the fermentation stage. No fermentation stage contains more than 150% of the amount of yeast required to ferment the mash in a specified residence time. The alcohol content of the resultant solution is thus raised without the introduction of undesirable bacteria into the high nutrient and low alcohol mash. |