Coproducts from Wet Milling

As stated previously, wet-milling operations have the capacity and flexibility to make more products than a dry-grind ethanol facility, because the individual parts of the kernel are fractionated. Products resulting directly from wet milling are corn oil for cooking, CO2, which may be captured and sold for carbonation of beverages, and corn gluten meal and corn gluten feed, which are sold as animal feeds. Additional products may be obtained from starch, by siphoning part of the sugar stream into alternate products. The product mix from a wet mill can be changed (within limits) in response to market conditions, and has grown to include products that were formerly synthesized by chemical processes. Alternative fer­mentation products include organic acids, amino acids, sugar alcohols, polysaccharides, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, fibers, biodegradable films, sol­vents, pigments, enzymes, polyols, and vitamins [24]. The simple sugars derived from starch can also be converted enzymatically to sweeteners including high fructose corn syrup, which is the primary food use of corn in the United States.