Project Number: 3620-41000-119-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Aug 28, 2004
End Date: Aug 27, 2009

Objective:
The primary goals for this project are to develop new chemistries and processes to enhance the utilization of co-products produced during cereal and soy processing, and bioethanol production thereby generating new markets for these co-products. The physical and chemical properties of the co-products will be characterized and their unique functional properties utilized to develop value added materials.

Approach:
Characterize the structure and properties of zein to identify how zein fractions come together to form gels and aggregates. Characterize non-zein proteins from corn germ by-products of corn milling and identify potential applications. Investigate availability of chemically or enzymically functional groups by spectrofluorometry upon processing zein under heat and pressure as well as proteolyzing zein with enzymes such as trypsin, chymotrypsin and Alcalase.