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Recently I had the opportunity to
visit the USDA's Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in Wyndmoor, a
Philadelphia suburb. I joined several corn producers and about 40 other folks
in Late August for a very informative tour. The lab is well known for some of
its achievements in the food science arena and is making its mark now in the
area of biofuels research, focusing on the development of co-products from corn
processing. These new co-products could lead to increased profitability from
corn based ethanol plants and more use of corn for processing, which could
improve the market situation for corn producers.
Corn co-products are the products that
remain after processing of corn. One form of corn processing is called wet
milling. In this process, corn is cooked, and then separated into the starch,
protein, fiber and oil fractions. The starch is used to make ethanol, corn
sweeteners, and food and industrial starch. The protein is sold as corn gluten
meal (61% protein) and the fiber is sold as part of the corn gluten feed. The
corn gluten feed is the least valuable of the co-products and sells for about 5
cents/lb.
At ERRC, researchers found that edible
oil could be extracted from the corn fiber. They also found that this new oil
was not ordinary corn oil- it contained the highest known naturally occurring
levels of phytosterols, which can reduce cholesterol. This new oil from corn
fiber has been patented as "Amaizing Oil" and the lab is currently looking to
commercialize the product.
Another added value use of the corn
fiber has been the development of corn fiber gum. Corn fiber gum is similar to
gum arabic, a common food additive. This new product is called Zeagen and
efforts are underway to get this to the market place as well.
The lab has also been working on
improving the extraction of zein from corn co products. Zein is used in the
food industry to form thin tasteless coatings on foods. The new process under
development could reduce the cost of zein to the point where it could be used
for numerous industrial applications. Two under consideration are water
resistant coatings on starch based biodegradable cups and the development of
biodegradable zein sheets for mulches in vegetable production.
Another method of corn processing is
called the dry grind process. In this process dry corn is ground and then
fermented to a beer, which is distilled to produce ethanol. The basic
co-products in this process are distillers grains, used for animal feed, and
carbon dioxide, which can be used for soft drink production or other industrial
purposes. The dry mill process is the one that is being considered for most
ethanol plants under consideration because of its lower costs. The downside is
that it produces less co products than the wet mill process.
At ERRC, several researchers are
focusing on improving the efficiency of the dry mill process and also creating
more co-products. The lab has developed new milling techniques to separate the
oil from the dry ground corn- this allows the dry mill plant to add corn oil to
it co products. They also have found a way to extract fiber from the ground
corn, which then allows the development of some of the other fiber-based co
products.
The lab is also currently evaluating a
continuous fermentation process using carbon dioxide to "strip" the ethanol
from the beer. This process, combined with the new milling technology, could
reduce the cost of ethanol production by 10 cents/gallon.
We also saw a number of other
interesting topics on improving the efficiency of ethanol production, including
the use of hybrids that are more fermentable, the use of enzymes for
pre-treatment of the ground grain.
These research projects should
eventually lead to more cost effective ethanol production and ultimately more
demand for corn. For more information on what's happening at the lab on grain
processing and other research, check the labs website at
www.arserrc.gov. |
