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Comparison Between Alkali and Conventional Corn Wet-Milling: 100-g Procedures

¹Professor, former graduate research assistant, graduate research assistant, visiting assistant professor, and former research technician, respectively, Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. ²Corresponding author. Fax: 217/244-0323. E-mail: seckhoff@uiuc.edu ³Current address: Corn Products International, 6500 Archer Avenue, Bedford Park, IL 60501-1933. ⁴Professor, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.

A corn wet-milling process in which alkali was used was studied as an alternative to the conventional corn wet-milling procedure. In the alkali wet-milling process, corn was soaked in 2% NaOH at 85°C for 5 min and then debranned mechanically to obtain pericarp as a coproduct. Debranned corn was cracked in a roller mill, and the cracked corn was steeped with agitation for 1 hr in 0.5% NaOH at 45°C. The cracked and steeped corn was then processed to separate germ, fiber, and gluten by steps similar to those in conventional wet-milling. Alkali wet-milling yielded soakwater solids, pericarp, germ, starch, gluten, and fine fiber. The protein content of the starch and the starch content of the fiber from the alkali process were lower than those from the conventional process.