DDG food use

Jason Robinson

This proposal aims to identify the opportunity to develop DDGS into a human food ingredient. AURI proposes a two-phase gated approach to assessing the market potential and technical viability of upcycling the byproduct (dried distiller’s grains – DDG) of the corn dry milling ethanol manufacturing process from an animal feed use to a human food grade use (food grade dried distiller’s grains – FDDG). It is believed that the increased demand for plant proteins may open an opportunity to use this abundant resource in higher value markets and formulations thus bringing considerable benefit to corn ethanol producers and corn growers. If satisfying such demands appears economically and technically feasible, we will optimize the process and propose necessary next steps for commercialization. The proposed research intends to couple a global market assessment for the high protein, high fiber FDDG with a techno-economic assessment and optimization of the process developed by Dr. Padmanaban (Padu) Krishnan. A successful outcome of the proposed research will justify investment for commercialization of the technology at production scale and will provide ethanol manufacturers with a new higher value market for this coproduct stream while expanding the uses of Minnesota-grown corn.