http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109142135.htmUsing a wet ethanol production method that begins by soaking corn kernels rather than grinding them, results in more gallons of ethanol and more usable co-products, giving ethanol producers a bigger bang for their buck -- by about 20 percent.
"The conventional ethanol production method has fewer steps, but other than distillers dried grains with soluble, it doesn't have any other co-products," said University of Illinois Agricultural Engineer Esha Khullar. "Whereas in both wet and dry fractionation processes, the result is ethanol, distillers dried grains with soluble, as well as germ and fiber. Corn fiber oil for example can be extracted from the fiber and used as heart-healthy additives in buttery spreads that can lower cholesterol."
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In the wet process, the corn kernels are soaked, washing the germ, which Khullar says is a cleaner separation. "There's not a lot of starch sticking to the germ. That's why you get higher oil concentrations."
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The process doesn't require developing any new equipment. "It's just a modification of things that are already being done in the corn processing industry and can be done pretty easily," Khullar said.