Characterization and Comparison of Wet Milling Fractions of Export Commodity Corn Originating from Different International Geographical Locations

Abstract

AbstractSoft endosperm corn has evident characteristics suitable for wet milling but is susceptible to breakage and fracture during transportation. In this study the millability of commodity corn samples with different endosperm hardness originating from different international locations is compared, and its economic impact on corn importers for wet milling is discussed. The broken corn and foreign material (BCFM) for the soft endosperm US commodity corn ranges from 1.13% to 5.57% which is higher than other commodity corn from other international locations exported to the same country. US corn exported to different international markets shows higher starch yield in a range of 5–8% compared to the corn from different geographical locations exported to the same market. The excess starch from US corn directly translates to an additional revenue of 8.13–13 million USD per year for a 2540 MT day−1 wet mill plant. Therefore, it can be concluded that the soft endosperm US commodity corn, despite higher breakage, has superior millability and gives higher starch yields compared to the hard endosperm corn from other international locations which has comparatively lower BCFM. There are technologies that can be used to process broken corn separately after the initial cleaning process.