Corn wet milling involves the process of various physical, chemical, biochemical and mechanical operations to separate the components of the corn grain (germ, steep liquor, starch and maize gluten) into valuable products that are far more worthy than the raw grain.
The invention of corn wet milling process was critical to the origin of commercially manufactured oil and starch from corn. Prior to the advent of wet milling, starch was primarily made from wheat and potatoes and corn was not used as a source for either starch or oil.
The corn wet milling industry can trace its beginnings back to 1844 when Thomas Kingsford, a British immigrant working at Wm. Colgate & Company in Jersey City, NJ, convinced his employer to try a new alkali process to extract starch from corn.
This plant became the world's first dedicated corn starch plant. Kingsford built his own corn wet milling facility a few years later in Oswego, NY. By 1860, corn starch was being produced in small plants throughout the United States. Production volume varied throughout the latter part of the 1800’s but began a steady increase post-1900.
At the initial stages, the corn industry discarded the maize fiber, corn germ and protein obtained during the processing. Over time, however, the wet milling process gradually changed so the non-starch components have found applications in animal feed, oil, polymer and pharmaceutical industries.
Wet milling process is mainly used for extraction of starch from corn but recently, its use has been extended to separation of different fraction of grains in cereals and pseudo-cereals.
History of corn wet milling process
