Compositions and Methods for Producing Fermentation Products and Residuals

Abstract

The present invention provides compositions and methods designed to increase value output of a fermentation reaction. In particular, the present invention provides a business method of increasing value output of a fermentation plant. The present invention also provides a modified fermentation residual of higher commercial value. Also provided in the present invention are complete animal feeds, nutritional supplements comprising the subject ferment residuals. Further provided by the present invention is a method of performing fermentation, a modified fermentative microorganism and a genetic vehicle for modifying such microorganism.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE [0001] This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11 / 383,748 filed on May 16, 2006 which claims priority to benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 744,833 filed Apr. 13, 2006, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 797,431 filed May 3, 2006, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The ethanol fuel industry is growing at a rapid pace. Numerous federal and state incentives, such as clean burning fuel programs, have fostered the exponential growth of more than five times over the past two decades. In 2004, high oil prices, a bumper corn crop, and limited processing capacity created new market opportunities and resulted in record production of more than 3.4 billion gallons of fuel ethanol. Today, ethanol represents the third largest market for U.S. corn. At this pace, fuel ethanol production is positioning itself as an integral part of rural economic development and environmental improvem...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] The modified microorganism can be a eukaryote (e.g., yeast) or a prokaryote (e.g., bacteria or archaebacteria). It can be modified to overproduce a nutritional component including but not limited to amino acid, vitamin, and / or lipid. This is typically achieved by genetically modifying the metabolic pathway of the microorganism for producing such nutritional component, and / or directly introducing an exogenous sequence that encodes the nutritional component (e.g., a particular type of amino acid contained in a polypeptide). Where desired, genetic modification can be carried out with the use of genetic vehicles that carry one or more of the metabolic pathway gene sequences, or the sequences that code for the exogenous polypeptides carrying the nutritional component such as essential amino acids. A wide variety of genetic vehicles are applicable for such use. They include an array of expression vectors including both viral and non-viral vectors. In a preferred embodiment, expression of the exogenous sequence is under the control of a regulatory sequence selected from the group consisting of a regulatory sequence of a heat shock gene, regulatory sequence of a toxicity gene, regulatory sequence of a spore formation gene, and glucose suppressor operon. When regulated under these sequences, the increase in production of the nutritional component by the microorganisms can be induced at a time when the fermentation has substantially been completed, preferably at least about 50% completed, more preferably at least about 70% completed, more preferably about 90% completed. Such regulation allows production of fermentation products of enhanced nutritional value and maximizing the profit from the fermentation reaction.

Problems solved by technology

In 2004, high oil prices, a bumper corn crop, and limited processing capacity created new market opportunities and resulted in record production of more than 3.4 billion gallons of fuel ethanol.

While both types of facilities have similar operating costs, the dry grind facilities are usually smaller and require a lower initial investment, making their capital costs two to four times less per gallon.

If dried distillers grain sales lag behind the increasing production of ethanol, the current ethanol industry could be significantly affected.

Current ethanol production schemes by fermentation are far from being optimized.

While efforts have been directed to improve ethanol production, little research has been focused on enhancing the value output of the fermentation residuals including the distillers grain that contributes to a significant portion of the animal feed market.

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