Wheat DDGS Feed Guide - Western Canadian Feed Innovation ...

Wheat DDGS - Processing
Producing high-volume, quality ethanol from grain is the end goal of the distillation process in which DDGS is a
byproduct. At the end of June 2010, 20 plants existed or were under construction in Canada to process feedstocks
such as wheat, corn, wood waste, wheat straw, and municipal landfill waste into ethanol (USDA Foreign Agricultural
Service, 2010).
ETHANOL AND DDGS PRODUCTION PROCESS
Ethanol plants utilizing grain feedstocks follow a process (Figure 1) that takes approximately 60 hours. On average,
for every kilogram of wheat processed, one third of that wheat will be converted to ethanol, one third to DDGS
and one third to carbon dioxide (http://www.ddgs.usask.ca/MarketingandTechInfo/EthanolIndustryStatusinWestern
Canada.aspx).
GRAIN INTAKE
High-starch, low-protein wheat such as winter wheat, soft white wheat and Canadian Prairie Red Spring wheat
are purchased with the quality approximately equivalent to a Canadian Grain Commission Grade No. 2 and free
of such impurities as ergot, fusarium and vomitoxin. These impurities do not break down in ethanol production,
so if infected grains were used they would be concentrated approximately threefold in the DDGS byproduct.
CLEANING
Wheat is cleaned to remove impurities such as pebbles and dirt.
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PROCESSING