Process

Corn germ contains about 85 percent of the total oil in a corn kernel. The remaining oil is dispersed in endosperm and hull fractions and is typically utilized in feed products. The clean, dried germ from wet milling has an oil content of 45 to 50 percent. Oil is extracted from the germ by a combination of expelling in continuous screw presses and solvent extraction. Initial expelling recovers little more than half of the oil. Solvent extraction (with hexane or iso-hexane) brings the total oil yield to almost 95 percent. The solvent is removed by evaporation, recovered and re-used. The expelled and solvent-extracted fractions are combined as total crude corn oil. The oil-depleted germ is cleaned of solvent, toasted, ground and screened. The resulting corn germ meal is combined with fiber and concentrated steepwater to produce corn gluten feed. The crude corn oil will be marketed through a broker to be processed at a refinery.

At full capacity we’ll produce about 90 tons of corn oil per day destined for the human food market. Corn oil is a high value vegetable oil product that is increasing in demand as food processors switch from hydrogenated soybean oil in an effort to reduce trans fats by fast food restaurants as well as manufactured foods.  Crude corn oil, because of its natural antioxidants, undergoes little deterioration when stored for long periods, provided the temperature is controlled and moisture plus volatile matter level is kept below 0.4 percent.  All the major refiners have excess refining capacity and are strong bidders for food grade corn oil. There is also a strong export market for corn oil to provide competition for domestic refiners.