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Ethanol extraction of oil from dry-milled corn: process optimization and rheological properties of the extract.

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  026144,  2002 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.9405) @2002
Authors:   Jason Kwiatkowski, Munir Cheryan
Keywords:   Corn, corn oil, ethanol, extraction, dry-grind, maize

Corn oil was extracted from whole ground corn using ethanol as the solvent. The yield of oil was measured as a function of temperature, time of extraction, solvent-to-solids ratio, and ethanol concentration. Optimum conditions were a solvent-to-solids ratio of 4 mL/g corn, and ethanol concentration of 100%, 30 minutes of extraction time and a temperature of 50 degrees Celcius. Under these conditions, a single batch extraction yields about 3.3 grams oil per 100 grams corn, equivalent to an extraction efficiency of 70%. A 3-stage extraction, where the corn is exposed to fresh ethanol, results in a yield of about 4.5 grams per 100 grams of corn, equivalent to an oil yield of 93% and 2.5 pounds per bushel of corn. When the same ethanol was used to extract fresh corn, it resulted in a linear uptake of moisture by the ethanol from the corn in successive stages. This resulted in a decrease in oil yield and an increase in non-oil components being extracted. In addition, the density and viscosity of the extract obtained by using the optimum parameters for extraction was determined over the temperature range from 30 degrees to 70 degrees Celcius. The response to increasing temperature was for each property to decrease in a linear fashion. The response for both density and viscosity also appears to be significantly different from ethanol alone.

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