Strengthening the corn based renewable fuel industry is one of NCGA's research goals. Ethanol production is the third largest market for U.S. corn, grinding 700 million bushels annually and assisting in the economic development of rural America through thousands of farmer/owners in cooperative ethanol production facilities. A portion of ethanol related research is focused on enhancing the value of co-products such as Distillers Dried Grains and Corn Gluten Feed.

Corn Fiber Utilization
Increased utilization of the undervalued portion of the corn kernel, fiber, should serve to increase demand for corn through new industrial applications. The main customer for corn fiber now, is corn gluten feed sold to the livestock industry, this research opens up many new avenues of chemical application. For more information on corn to chemicals check out Polyols and Fermentation of Corn Fiber. More info...

Fermentation of Corn Fiber
This project is coordinated with the Corn Fiber Utilization project and combines research efforts with the Corn Refiners Association to better use all portions of the corn kernel. As 11% of the corn kernel is represented by fiber, and is largely hemi-cellulose, finding a way to turn that portion into ethanol through fermentation is highly beneficial to the corn grower and environmentally friendly. More info...

DDGS New Market Research
Nearly 3.8 million tons of distillers dry grains are currently created in domestic dry grind ethanol production; farmer owned cooperatives represent 48% of that production. For every bushel of corn made into ethanol, 18 pounds of DDGS are created and must maintain value to contribute to plant profitability. More info...