COMPARISON OF LABORATORY AND PILOT-PLANT CORN WET-MILLING PROCEDURES

One waxy and three regular yellow dent corn hybrids were wet milled by using two scales of laboratory procedures (modified 100-g and 1-kg) a nd a pilot-plant procedure (10-kg). The modified 100-g and 1-kg labora tory procedures gave similar yields of wet-milling fractions. Starch y ields and recoveries were significantly lower for the pilot-plant proc edure, whereas gluten and fiber yields were greater because of their h igh contents of unrecovered starch. Protein contents of the starches o btained by all three procedures were within commercially acceptable li mits (<0.50% db for normal dent corn and <0.30% for waxy corn). Rankin gs for starch yields and starch recoveries for the four hybrids, havin g very different physical and compositional properties, were the same for all three procedures. The harder the grain, the lower the yield an d recovery of starch. Least significant differences (P < 0.05) for sta rch yield were 0.8% for the modified 100-g procedure, 1.2% for the 1-k g procedure, and 2.0% for the pilot-plant procedure.