Germ soak water as nutrient source to improve fermentation of corn grits from modified corn dry grind process

Corn fractionation in modified dry grind processes results in low fermentation efficiency of corn grits because of nutrient deficiency. This study investigated the use of nutrient-rich water from germ soaking to improve grits fermentation in the conventional dry grind and granular starch hydrolysis (GSH) processes. Comparison of germ soak water with the use of protease and external B-vitamin addition in improving grits fermentation was conducted. Use of water from optimum soaking conditions (12 h at 30 °C) resulted in complete fermentation with 29 and 8% higher final ethanol yields compared to that of control in conventional and GSH process, respectively. Fermentation rate (4–24 h) of corn grits with germ soak water (0.492 v/v-h) was more than double than that of control (0.208 v/v-h) in case of conventional dry grind process. The soaking process also increased the oil concentration in the germ by about 36%, which would enhance its economic value.