Chief Ethanol, Chief Makes That - Corn Oil

Chief brought ethanol production into our family of brands in 1990, after purchasing Nebraska’s first dry-mill ethanol plant in Hastings, NE. Later in 2016 Chief bought the ethanol plant in Lexington. Ethanol plants are well-known for converting corn into ethanol but what goes unnoticed is that these facilities also yield valuable co-products, one of which is corn oil.
Corn oil is extracted from corn through a multi-step process. First, corn kernels are ground into a fine meal. This meal is mixed with water and heated to break down starch into sugars. After fermentation and distillation to extract the ethanol, the remaining “Thin Stillage” undergoes centrifugation, where the corn oil spins to the surface due to its lower density. Resulting in the final corn oil product that is picked up weekly by the semi-load from each of the two plants.
Corn oil is used for various purposes, from feed ingredients for livestock and even as a component in biodiesel production. So, the next time you think about ethanol production, remember that there's more to it than just fuel - there's also the golden treasure of corn oil.