Alcohols are a renewable and clean fuel source. A grain alcohol commonly used as a fuel source is ethanol, which can be produced, in large part, from corn by the fermentation of starch. Generally, alcohol production is accomplished through a fermentation and distillation process wherein starches are released and converted to sugars, and then the sugars are converted to alcohol by the addition of yeast. At an industrial level, yeast fermentation processes only convert about one-third of the corn into alcohol.
In addition to producing alcohol, oil may be produced as a by-product to an alcohol production. Prior methods described methods teaching autoclaving stillage streams and extracting oil from ethanol. In addition, methods of processing post-fermentation thin stillage have been taught, but require multiple separation steps. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a more efficient and economical process to recover oil from a byproduct, such as thin stillage, created during a dry milling process for ethanol production.