9817050 Jackson The objective of this research is to minimize waste, waste generation and fresh water use in the corn nixtamalization process used in the manufacture of corn products such as corn chips, tortilla chips, tacos and corn tortillas. The traditional process involves cooking and steeping of corn in excess water and results in significant loss of corn solids and generation of large volumes of alkaline, high organic wastes. The objective of this project is to minimize waste generation and fresh water use by optimizing the principal variables, process modeling and developing novel process approaches. The research will be conducted following two paths. The first approach will be to optimize the traditional nixtamalization process, minimizing water use and waste generation, using Response Surface Methodology and process modeling to optimize the process variables. The second approach will be to develop a novel enzymatic processing technique that uses steam to cook the corn without alkali and pericarp degrading cellulolytic enzymes to digest the cooked corn to reduce water intensity and corn loss. This award is made by NSF as part of the joint NSF/EPA Program on Technologies for a Sustainable Environment. ***
