Effect of co-products of enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction of soybeans on ethanol production in dry-grind corn fermentation

Genetic Engineering of Starch Biosynthesis in Maize Seeds for Efficient Enzymatic Digestion of Starch during Bioethanol Production

Maize accumulates large amounts of starch in seeds which have been used as food for human and animals. Maize starch is an importantly industrial raw material for bioethanol production. One critical step in bioethanol production is degrading starch to oligosaccharides and glucose by α-amylase and glucoamylase. This step usually requires high temperature and additional equipment, leading to an increased production cost. Currently, there remains a lack of specially designed maize cultivars with optimized starch (amylose and amylopectin) compositions for bioethanol production. We discussed the features of starch granules suitable for efficient enzymatic digestion. Thus far, great advances have been made in molecular characterization of the key proteins involved in starch metabolism in maize seeds. The review explores how these proteins affect starch metabolism pathway, especially in controlling the composition, size and features of starch. We highlight the roles of key enzymes in controlling amylose/amylopectin ratio and granules architecture. Based on current technological process of bioethanol production using maize starch, we propose that several key enzymes can be modified in abundance or activities via genetic engineering to synthesize easily degraded starch granules in maize seeds. The review provides a clue for developing special maize cultivars as raw material in the bioethanol industry.

Replacement of dietary corn with corn bran plus condensed distillers solubles effects on feedlot growth performance and carcass trait responses of beef steers

Dry-corn milling biorefineries have the opportunity to install technology to fractionate corn prior to fermentation, which creates a product stream of fibrous bran that can be fed to cattle. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of replacing dietary corn with corn bran and condensed distillers solubles (CBCDS) or wet-corn gluten feed (WCGF) on growth performance, efficiency of dietary net energy (NE) utilization, and carcass characteristics in finishing steers. British × Continental steers (n = 240; initial body weight [BW] = 401 ± 43.2 kg) were assigned to the following dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design (RCBD): 1) a control finishing diet with no corn milling coproducts; 2) a finishing diet that contained CBCDS at 20% replacement of dietary corn; and 3) a finishing diet that contained WCGF at 20% replacement of dietary corn. Dietary corn (50:50 of dry-rolled corn and high-moisture corn) was included at 81.5% for control diet-fed steers and 61.5% for steers-fed CBCDS and WCGF. Steers were fed for 145.5 d until visually appraised to have 1.27 cm of rib fat (RF) and were harvested at a commercial abattoir where carcass data were collected. Data were analyzed as an RCBD with pen as the experimental unit, treatment as a fixed effect and block as a random effect. There were no significant differences (P ≥ 0.28) between treatments for final BW, average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion efficiency, observed dietary NE for maintenance (NEm), and NE for gain (NEg), or observed-to-expected NEm and NEg. Additionally, no differences (P ≥ 0.16) were noted between treatments for hot carcass weight, ribeye area, RF, marbling score, kidney–pelvic–heart fat, estimated empty body fat (EBF), BW at 28% EBF (AFBW), and distribution of USDA Quality and Yield grades. Control steers tended (P = 0.10) to have the highest calculated yield grade followed by WCGF and CBCDS. Furthermore, WCGF steers tended (P = 0.08) to have the highest calculated retail yield followed by CBCDS and control steers. Replacement NEm and NEg values of corn coproducts were determined to be 2.14 and 1.42 for CBCDS and 2.09 and 1.37 for WCGF, respectively. Thus, CBCDS can be included in finishing steer diets at 20% replacement of corn without detriment to growth performance or carcass characteristics.

Physiochemical characterization and energy contents of novel corn ethanol co-product streams, with and without inclusion of a multi-carbohydrase enzyme blend, for growing pigs

The physiochemical properties and digestible, metabolizable, and predicted net energy contents in high-protein dried distillers’ grain (HiPro) were determined to assess the nutritive value for growing pigs. Twelve Yorkshire × Landrace barrows (initial body weight 25 ± 0.5 kg) were used in a partially replicated Latin square design over three periods (n = 7 or 8) and assigned to one of five experimental diets. In each period, pigs were adapted to diets for 7 d, followed by 5 d of total urine collection and fecal grab sampling. The experimental diets included a corn- and soybean-meal-based diet (CON) or diets containing dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS) or HiPro to partially replace corn and soybean meal, without or with (i.e., DDGS+ and Hipro+) a multi-carbohydrase enzyme blend (0.05% inclusion). The HiPro ingredient contained half as much starch (2.6% vs. 5.2%; DM-basis), 20% more protein (32.5% vs. 27.1%), and had 14% greater water binding capacity versus DDGS. The digestible, metabolizable, and predicted net energy contents of the HiPro co-product were greater than DDGS for growing pigs (P < 0.05), but fibre-degrading enzymes were ineffective at improving energy values. The greater (available) energy and protein contents of HiPro make it a promising feed ingredient for inclusion in swine diets.

Techno-Economic Analysis of Integrating Soybean Biorefinery Products into Corn-Based Ethanol Fermentation Operations

With the development of agricultural biorefineries and bioprocessing operations, understanding the economic efficiencies and environmental impacts for these have gradually become popular for the deployment of these industrial processes. The corn-based ethanol and soybean oil refining industries have been examined extensively over the years, especially details of processing technologies, including materials, reaction controls, equipment, and industrial applications. The study focused on examining the production efficiency changes and economic impacts of integrating products from the enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction processing (EAEP) of soybeans into corn-based ethanol fermentation processing. Using SuperPro Designer to simulate production of corn-based ethanol at either 40 million gallons per year (MGY) or 120 MGY, with either oil separation or no oil removal, we found that indeed integrating soy products into corn ethanol fermentation may be slightly more expensive in terms of production costs, but economic returns justify this integration due to substantially greater quantities of ethanol, distillers corn oil, and distillers dried grains with solubles being produced.

Effects of high-protein distillers dried grains on growth performance of nursery pigs

A total of 300 pigs (DNA 400 × 200, Columbus, NE), initially 11.1 kg, were used in a study to evaluate the effects of increasing amounts of high-protein distillers dried grains (HP DDG) on growth performance and to estimate its energy value relative to corn. Pigs were weaned, placed in pens with five pigs each, and fed a common diet for 21 d after weaning. Then, pens were assigned to treatments in a randomized complete block design. There were 5 treatments with 12 replicates per treatment. Treatments consisted of 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40% HP DDG, formulated by changing only the amounts of corn and feed-grade amino acids. Pigs were weighed weekly for 21 d to evaluate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain-to-feed ratio (G:F). Caloric efficiency was obtained by multiplying ADFI by kcal of net energy (NE) per kg of diet and dividing by ADG. The NE values for corn and soybean meal were obtained from NRC (2012), and initial estimates for HP DDG NE were derived from the Noblet et al. (1994) equation. The energy of HP DDG was estimated based on caloric efficiency relative to the diet without HP DDG. Pigs fed diets with increasing HP DDG had a linear decrease (P < 0.01) in ADG, ADFI, and final body weight. There was a tendency for a quadratic response (P = 0.051) in G:F, with the greatest G:F observed for pigs fed diets with 40% HP DDG. There was a linear reduction (P < 0.05) in caloric efficiency with increasing amounts of HP DDG, indicating the initial NE estimate of HP DDG was underestimated. The use of caloric efficiency to estimate the energy value of HP DDG presents several limitations. This approach assumes that the NE values of corn and soybean meal are accurate and does not take into account possible changes in body composition, which can influence the G:F response as leaner pigs are more efficient. In conclusion, increasing HP DDG in the diet linearly decreased ADG and ADFI. Using caloric efficiency to estimate energy content relative to corn, the HP DDG used in this study was estimated to be 97.3% of the energy value of corn. Direct or indirect calorimetry is needed to confirm this value.

Physical-Chemical Properties of Edible Film Made from Soybean Residue and Citric Acid

The effect of citric acid on the properties of soybean enzyme-assisted aqueous extraction processing (EAEP) residue edible film was studied. The washed soybean EAEP residue was produced by the process of EAEP. It was determined that the washed soybean EAEP residue is rich in fibers (76.10 ± 1.03%) and has lower oil and protein contents (7.74 ± 0.11% and 3.50 ± 0.20%, resp.). Edible films intended for food packaging have been produced from the washed EAEP residue combined with glycerol, different concentrations of citric acid (0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%), and sodium hypophosphite. The spectra have evidenced that the cross-linking reaction of citric acid and fibers has taken place in the residue. 30-CA films showed the highest tensile strength (17.52 MPa) and the lowest water vapor permeability (7.21 g·cm−1·s−1·Pa−1). Also, it indicated that citric acid can cross-link with the hydroxyls of polysaccharide and improve the compatibilization between the polymeric molecules to improve the intermolecular interaction between polysaccharide molecules, so that the water uptake is reduced. The smooth surface and better translucency of the films suggest that the EAEP residue films treated with citric acid are suitable for application in food packaging.

Standardized ileal digestible amino acids and digestible energy contents in high-protein distiller's dried grains with solubles fed to growing pigs

Chemical composition and, therefore, potential nutritive value of corn distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is constantly evolving as the ethanol industry innovates processing techniques. We determined standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA (Exp. 1) and DE (Exp. 2) contents in high-protein (HP; >40% on a DM basis) DDGS samples. Two HP DDGS (HP-A and HP-B) samples and 1 conventional DDGS (CON) sample were selected for this study. Three semipurified corn starch-based diets (minimum 18% CP, as-fed basis) were formulated with DDGS as the sole source of AA. A fourth, N-free diet was prepared to estimate basal ileal endogenous AA losses. The corn starch:sucrose:oil ratio was kept constant across diets to allow calculation of DE content in DDGS by the difference method. In Exp. 1, 8 ileal-cannulated barrows (23.9 kg initial BW) were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design ( = 8). Pigs were fed at 2.8 × maintenance energy requirement. In each period, pigs were adjusted to diets for 5 d followed by a 2 d of 8 h each grab continuous ileal digesta collection. In Exp. 2, 9 barrows (24.9 kg BW) were assigned to the 4 diets in a repeated 9 × 4 Youden square design to give 9 replicates per diet. In each period, pigs were adjusted to diets for 7 d followed by 5 d of fecal grab sample collection. The analyzed CP was 30.1, 42.3, and 43.1% (on a DM basis) in the CON, HP-A, and HP-B samples, respectively; the corresponding values for GE were 5,067, 5,425, and 5,407 kcal/kg DM, respectively. The concentrations of fat and NDF were comparable among the DDGS samples. Except for Arg and Val, the SID values for indispensable AA were not different ( > 0.05) among the 3 DDGS samples. However, HP samples had higher ( < 0.05) SID values for indispensable AA and CP compared with the CON sample. The SID of Lys content was 4.9, 6.1, and 7.4 g/kg DM for the CON, HP-A, and HP-B, respectively; the corresponding values for Met and Thr were 4.6, 6.8, and 7.4 g/kg DM, respectively, and 6.8, 9.5, and 10.7 g/kg DM, respectively. The DE content in HP samples was greater ( < 0.01) than in the CON (3,614, 4,494, and 4,555 kcal/kg DM for the CON, HP-A, and HP-B, respectively). In conclusion, HP DDGS had higher SID content of AA and DE compared with the CON.

Pulsed electric field pretreatment of rapeseed green biomass (stems) to enhance pressing and extractives recovery

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of pulsed electric field (PEF) pretreatment on the valorization of extractives (proteins and polyphenols) from rapeseed green biomass (stems) by pressing. The effect of pressure, electric field strength and pulse number on the juice expression yield, total polyphenols and total proteins content in the expressed juices were studied. Experiments conducted under optimal conditions (E = 8 kV/cm, tPEF = 2 ms, P = 10 bar) permitted to increase the juice expressed yield from 34% to 81%. Significant increases in total polyphenols content (0.48 vs. 0.10 g GAE/100g DM), in total proteins content (0.14 vs. 0.07 g BSA/100g DM) and in consolidation coefficient (9.0 × 10(-8) vs. 2.2 × 10(-8)m(2)/s) were also observed after PEF pretreatment. The recovered press cake was well dehydrated with an increase of dry matter content from 8.8% to 53.0%.