NCGA’s
Research and Business Development Action Team Discusses New Uses,
Markets for Corn
(4-1-04)
The National
Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Research and Business Development
Action Team (RBDAT) met last week in Lansing, Mich., to discuss future
projects and ongoing checkoff-funded research initiatives.
In its mission to increase
demand and add value to the U.S. corn crop, the team continued its
discussion on mapping the corn genome, the solubles project, development
of corn biorefineries and other methods to create new, viable markets
for corn. Team member Bart Schott, a grower from Kulm, N.D., said
significant progress has been made on several of the team’s
initiatives.
“The soluble project
is really moving along,” he said. “It’s going to
be a big deal for both corn growers and the cattle industry and we’re
very excited with it. Another highlight of our meeting was the discussion
on the genome. We expect sequencing of the genome to happen fairly
quickly now because the data was released to public researchers.”
Aside from conducting its
normal business, the 14-member team also visited Michigan State University
to discuss the status of the esters project, an effort to investigate
a chemical separation process known as reactive distillation. It is
anticipated that reactive distillation technology will allow the application
of traditional catalysts to non-traditional corn-derived feed streams.
Development of this technology will build a large and valuable market
for corn.
“This is one of many
efforts on a national basis to develop key technology that will enable
groups of chemicals to be made from corn on a cost-competitive basis,”
said NCGA Director of Business Development and Corn Processing Research
Rene Shunk. “This will continue to grow the bioproducts industry
and provide a new, large market for U.S. corn.”
The team also toured the
Dow Chemical facility in Midland, Mich., to explore further possibilities
for the use of biomass in manufacturing. The group visited the plant’s
analytical lab and chemical plant to observe the application of state-of-the-art
technology in the manufacturing industry. Schott said the tour provided
the team with valuable insight into the role of biomass in future
manufacturing endeavors.
“It was a very interesting
tour,” he said. “With all of the advances corn is making
in the plastics industry, we expect to see companies like Dow using
more corn in the future.”