Inedible corn oil is an emerging co-product for the ethanol industry. Today, about 1/3 of all ethanol plants in production are producing some type of inedible corn oil. However, many current technologies on the market don’t deliver high yields. This may change with the announcement from Ashland Hercules Water Technologies who has released a patent-pending corn oil extraction aid, PTV M-5309, that improves yield. The product is easily added to a plant’s current technology and requires no additional capital expenditure.

“The customers we’ve worked with in developing this value-added product have documented a number of benefits from using the PTV M-5309 corn oil extraction aid,” said McCord Pankonen, global biorefining marketing manager, Water Technologies. “The real beauty of the product is that refiners don’t have to change their process. Many of those who are using our corn oil extraction aid are producing up to three times more corn oil than they previously achieved.”

The technology works by improving the release of oil during mechanical extraction. The aid is added to the process after distillation, and at this point, it also reduces solids in the oil, resulting in a cleaner, higher-quality oil. Lastly, the aid helps keep the system cleaner and results in less downtime for cleaning and maintenance. Inedible corn oil has become an emerging feedstock for the biodiesel industry but many plants are not equipped to use the feedstock because it is harder to convert than other feedstocks and needs special treatment.

“The results we have been able to achieve for our customers during testing prompted us to accelerate our efforts to bring this to market,” said Eugenia Erlij, director of global marketing for Food and Beverage, Water Technologies. “By enabling ethanol producers to capture more corn oil without increasing capital expenditures, PTV M-5309 provides an added value that delivers bottom-line performance.”