ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that there are several efforts underway to develop less capital-intensive processes for either totally or partial fractionating corn that would be suitable for implementation at dry-grind facilities. Ethanol production is a growing industry in the United States, where corn is the feedstock used to produce approximately 90% of fuel ethanol. Advocates of the corn ethanol industry note that agricultural business and rural economies benefit from ethanol production. A strengthened domestic market for corn also prevents the United States from flooding the global corn market. Corn kernels contain, by weight, approximately 70% starch, 9% protein, 4% fat and oil, and 9% fiber on a dry basis. The wet milling and dry grind fermentation processes share the same biological basis for conversion of corn starch to ethanol: starch is converted by the combined actions of heat and enzymes to glucose and maltose, which are fermented by yeast to ethanol.
