The dynamic steeping of craked corn grains was compared against the conventional steeping process of the wet milling for starch and subproducts production. Corn fractions yields (germ, fiber, starch and gluten) were obtained after wet milling in the laboratotry using both steeping thechniques, with and without lactic acid, in the sulfur dioxide (SO2) solution and steeping in water without these components. The steeping in water resulted in lower starch yields than that obtained by the others two, which was expected, and a higher fiber production. This show that SO2 and lactic acid are necessary to the process. The dynamic steeping technique produced more starch than the conventional process in a period reduced from 24-36 hours up to 5 hours. These results indicate that the new process is suitable and confirms that the long time needed for the traditional method is mainly due to the SO2 diffusional limitations.
wet milling; corn; dynamic steeping
