What is the dry-grind ethanol process?
The dry-grind ethanol producer converts corn into fuel ethanol. This is the fastest growing area of corn processing. Dry corn is ground, mixed with water, and cooked with enzymes to break the starch in the corn down to sugars. The sugars are then fermented into ethanol. The residual solids (Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles DDGS) are used for animal feed. Much research is being done to improve the economics of the dry-grind process by various means, particularly by capturing more value from the materials traditionally sold as DDGS.
