ALTERNATIVE USAGES FOR CORN AND CORN PRODUCTS


One way to expand demand for corn is to expand the number of products in which corn is used. That has been an objective of virtually all corn industry participants for a long time. Much progress has been made, especially in the last decade, and especially in the United States where the Land-Grant Universities (such as Michigan State University and Iowa State University, in particular) have invested heavily in corn utilization research and development activities. Fibers, industrial chemicals, food ingredients, fuel, plastics, paints and a host of other products based on components of the corn kernel are now replacing products usually made from petroleum and petroleum-based products. The future of many crops, especially corn, may lie not in food production since we already produce too much, but as renewable and environmentally-friendly industrial raw materials. Because of the volume of corn starch readily available, its competitive cost, ease of handling, molecular structure, and other attributes, corn is the "poster child" for such a "bio-economy' where carbohydrates from plants replace hydrocarbons from petroleum. Following are some alternative usage initiatives that hold promise for commercialization in Ontario and would expand the demand for corn.

Lorama Chemicals Inc. is a 100% Canadian-owned and privately held chemical company with a head office, laboratory, and manufacturing plant located in Milton, Ontario. Lorama produces corn starch-based resins for paints and coatings. Annual sales are about US$5.5 million with 98% of their production exported to 80 countries on six continents. Lorama uses waxy corn starch (about 6 million pounds annually, expanding at 25-30% per year) to produce specialty polysaccharide resins ("highly modified, colloidal suspension of a finely-divided blend of polysaccharide particles in water"). The resin forms a film as the water evaporates. The film can be dissolved in water, but the paint made with this resin cannot be dissolved even with Mineral spirits. Resin stability is key and presence of lipids is a major contamination factor. Because waxy corn is low in amylose starch molecules, thus low in lipids, waxy corn starch-based resin stability is greatly improved. Importantly, polysaccharide resins permit alkyd enamel paint, primer, and stain manufacturers to replace petroleum- based toxic solvents while maintaining quality and saving 12% or more on raw material costs.

Work is progressing in using corn starch-based polysaccharide resins for water-based inks, particularly in flexographic ink technology used for paperboard printing applications. The polysaccharide ink resin is used as a pigment vehicle and binder which can replace the acrylics currently used in water-based flexo inks. A banner printed with corn starch-based inks from Lorama Chemicals was displayed for the first time at the Ontario Corn Producers' Association's 2003 semiannual meeting. Ink transfer and pigment dispersal were improved over acrylic inks as were gloss and resistance to oil. The technology also has enormous potential to replace acrylics in water-based household paints where about 6 million tonnes of acrylics are sold annually in North America.

As outlined above, environmental and safety concerns about toxicity of petroleum-based solvents and acrylics are creating opportunities for more benign and safer corn starch-based replacements. Other examples are regulations being imposed in the Eastern United States and Europe reducing permissible limits for atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOC). These VOC reductions are opening opportunities for corn starch-based compounds as additives for alkyd paints. Sales of Alkyd paints in the eastern U.S. amounts to 2.4 million tonnes annually. But there is also great potential for expanding corn usage in more traditional food and food ingredient applications thanks to innovative new developments.

The United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service developed a dietary fiber gel from corn that can be used for replacing fat in calorie-reduced foods. FiberGel Technologies Inc. (Mundelein, Illinois) acquired the rights to commercialize the product now known as "Z-Trim." FiberGel recently expanded its offerings around the world for marketing partnerships and joint-venture opportunities including limited exclusivity within designated market specific segments. This new generation, fat replacer is used to replace some of the starches, sugars, and syrups currently used to replace fat in low-fat foods or fat-free foods. Z-Trim has zero calories (thus the "Z" in the name), an aqueous gel fiber structure, no taste, and has the same smooth texture and mouth-feel as fat. The product is also offered to food manufacturers and processors as an emulsion and a powder. It can be used by food manufacturers to decrease fat and calories and increase insoluble fiber in a variety of products including cheese, baked goods, meat products, dressings, confectionary products and other prepared foods such as sauces, dips, fries, desserts, spreads, and ice cream.

The United States Department of Agriculture will very shortly (expected October 2003) patent a new corn that is high in oleic fatty acid. Oleic fatty acid is a type of unsaturated fat that raises good cholesterol levels and lowers bad cholesterol levels. Corn oil from conventional corn hybrids contains about 20% oleic fatty acid and 60% polyunsaturated fat, both of which are beneficial; but also 10% saturated fat which is harmful. The new corn still contains 10% saturated fat, but the elevated levels of oleic fatty acid greatly increase the beneficial effects of corn oil and other corn-based food products with no effect on taste. Moreover, high oleic fatty acid corn oil has a longer shelf-life than conventional corn oil. It has been developed through genetic engineering which thus far has been used to develo,p traits of interest primarily to producers (ie. pesticide or insect resistance). What is significant is that high oleic fatty acid corn is perhaps the first genetically engineered corn to offer significant benefits to consumers. The new corn hybrids may be commercialized within four years.

We likely will always produce commodity corn for bulk usage applications such as livestock feed, fuel ethanol, sweetener and starch production. However, these new developments and applications all hint that production of "specialty" corn under contract directly with processors, may provide a better opportunity for enhanced returns and expanded demand.