CORN USES
Corn...In Your Home?
By Brenda Miller-Sanford, OCPA Education and Computer Coordinator
Do you have corn in your home? Grain corn,
also known as cattle corn, field corn or dent corn, can be found in every home
in
one form or another.
Corn starch is processed into modified starches for industrial or commercial applications. Acid-thinned, oxidized,
acetylated and hydroxyethylated starches are types of modified corn starches, which are commercially available.
Each type has different characteristics of adhesiveness, film-forming, gelling, thickening and binding abilities.
Building Materials
Some of the building materials used for your home would be concrete,
gypsum wallboard or dry wall, plywood, insulation and ceiling tiles.
Corn starch is used in concrete as a retarder and reduces the set-time in cement and as a binder in gypsum plaster,
gypsum wallboard or dry wall, as well as in the making of ceiling tiles.
Both corn starch and dextrins are used in making plywood and fiber glass insulation as sizing, adhesives or binding
agents.
Home Decorating
Home decorating often involves the use of ceramic tiles, linoleum,
wallpaper, latex paint, fabric covered or leather furniture, window shades or shade cloths and carpets.
Corn starch and dextrins are used in ceramics with the starch serving as a binder.
Dextrins are used for linoleum as an adhesive in the product and may contribute to the coating application where
the linoleum has a glossy look.
Starches and dextrins are used in making wallpaper, which needs to be strong. The gummy-like consistency of the
wallpaper paste will contain corn starch or dextrin, which are both used to produce glues, pastes and gums.
Latex paints contain a type of corn starch that provides a strong film-forming and adhesive ability. This can apply
to varnishes and urethane coatings as well.
Corn starches are used for textile sizing and as a colour carrier for dyes. Dextrins, corn syrup, dextrose and
corn oil are also used in making textiles for sizing, dyeing, finishing and printing. This would include window
shades or cloths, fabric furniture coverings, carpets and any other fabric textiles you are using in your home.
The leather used for leather furniture would go through a leather tanning process which would use soluble corn
oil, dextrose and dextrins in the process.
Home Heating
You can heat your home with corn by using a corn burning furnace
or stove.
Other Uses in the Home
In your kitchen, you’ll find many items in cupboards or the refrigerator
that contain corn by-products. Some of the by-products which you may not recognize as corn products include dextrins,
maltodextrins, sorbitol, glucose, fructose, dextrose and high fructose corn syrup. The more recognizable items
are corn flour, corn starch, cornmeal and corn syrup.
Some cleaning agents, solvents or surfactants contain corn by-products as well. Soaps may contain corn oil and
dextrins.
Because of the strong adhesiveness and film-forming properties of modified corn starch, many items that have gone
through a coating application may have corn starch in the coating.
Summary
Now every time you look at your home, you will see a little bit
of the corn industry somewhere. That’s just a taste of the many uses for corn. Corn is also prominent in your car,
place of work, school and many other locations, including over 2,500 products in your supermarket. Corn is quite
a-maize-ing.
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