You can make corn flakes out of the waste product of ethanol?
Yes. It's not waste product, it's called 'co-products'.
Each bushel of corn can produce up to 2.5 gallons of ethanol fuel. Only the starch from the corn is used to make ethanol. Most of the substance of the corn kernel remains, leaving the protein and valuable co-products to be used in the production of food for people, livestock feed, and various chemicals. For example, that same bushel of corn (56 lbs.) used in ethanol manufacturing can also produce the following:
The wet-milling process: |
The dry-milling process: |
|
31.5 pounds of starch |
10 one-lb. boxes of cereal |
|
or |
and |
|
33 lbs. of sweetner |
15 lbs. of brewer grits |
|
or |
and |
|
2.5 gal. fuel ethanol |
10 eight oz. packages |
|
and |
and |
|
12.4 lbs. of 21% protein feed |
1 lb. of pancake mix |
|
and |
and |
|
3.0 lbs. of 60% gluten meal |
22 lbs. of hominy feed |
|
and |
and |
|
1.5 lbs. of corn oil |
0.7 lbs. of corn oil |
|
and |
and |
|
17 lbs. of carbon dioxide |
17 lbs. of carbon dioxide |
The corn oil is used in producing food for human consumption. For example, 1.5 lbs of corn oil from a bushel of corn is equivalent to 2 lbs of margarine. The 21% protein feed is used in making high protein livestock feed. The carbon dioxide is used as a refrigerant, in carbonated beverages, to help vegetable crops to grow more rapidly in greenhouses, and to flush oil wells. Only the starch of the corn (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) is used to make ethanol.