SBIR-STTR Award

Current wet-milling operations require expensive steeping in dilute alkali solutions prior to separation of starch and protein. These processes are water, energy, and time intensive and require costly waste water treatment processes which causes environmental problems. With existing rice wet-milling and separation technology, yields of starch are very low and extracted protein has no market value. Therefore, resulting costs of rice starch are too high to allow for widespread market use. No company in the U.S. is able to produce rice starch to compete with rice starch imported from Europe. A novel "all natural" method of rice starch and protein separation was developed under a CRADA with the USDA which makes possible more efficient yields of starch and a protein that can be marketed. The proposed program is to study different methods of separation, purification , and drying of starch and protein in order to determine the feasibility of reducing the cost of rice starch manufacture by increasing starch yield and producing a rice protein with market value. Our goal is to determine which types of equipment merit large scale testing in the Phase II of the program. Our ultimate goal is commercialization of a new efficient process for manufacturing rice starch and rice protein.

Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications of Research:
Successful development of a commercial process to manufacture a reasonably priced "all natural" rice starch and rice protein would allow for the development of a new industry within the United States, and new markets for U.S. agricultural products. Imports of rice starch would be replaced with domestically grown and manufactured products. Exports of rice starch would be expected. The uniqueness of rice starch would allow for the development of entirely new markets for starch. An all natural process of manufacturing rice starch would replace some existing uses of chemically modified starches improving the environment and the health of consumers.

Current methods of separation of starch and protein that have been successful in producing corn and other types of starches do not work well with rice. Rice granules are very small (usually about 3 to 6 microns in size) and are difficult to separate from rice protein, which are of similar size. Yields of starch are low, recovery of quality protein is rarely achievable, and so the resulting rice starch is too expensive to compete in the market. The unique small size of rice creates market opportunities for rice starch if cost could be reduced. We hope to commercialize a physical process to separate rice starch from rice protein. We hope to improve the yields of starch, produce a high quality rice protein that can be sold into the human market, and reduce costs of wastewater treatment. If successful, our process would use clean untreated water. The starch and protein produced from such a process would be "all natural" and potentially more valuable to the market than chemically treated starches. We will continue to work with and develop a concept that was initially developed by the USDA research lab in New Orleans through a CRADA with Sage V Foods, and then further developed in a phase 1 SBIR Grant. Under certain conditions a microfluidizer machine has been shown to physically separate starch and protein by causing the particles to collide against each other while in a liquid slurry at very high pressures. The overall objective is to develop a method of rice starch extraction that will make the manufacture and marketing of rice starch an economic success by increasing the yields of pure starch extracted from rice to over 70% (preferably over 75%) and to produce and recover a marketable protein that has not been treated with chemicals. The target yield for protein is greater than 6% at 80% purity. The specific objectives of the project will be: 1. Test various chamber and pressure conditions in the "microfluidizer" to determine the best shear conditions for protein that produces a functionality that facilitates separation of starch and protein. 2. Test two different types of nozzle disc centrifuges (Westfalia separator and Alpha Laval) in combination with additional centrifugation and/or hydrocyclones and various processing techniques to obtain starch purity of 99.5%, while at the same time achieving protein purity of over 80%. Also test a basket centrifuge and peeler centrifuge for the same purpose. 3. Utilizing centrifuges and hydrocyclones, develop an economical method to recover rice protein from the wash water and then dry the protein. Achieve yields of greater than 6% at 80 percent purity. 4. Test spray drying and basket centrifuge/oven drying to develop an economical method to dry rice starch, while producing a product of less than 10 micros size and without developing rancidity.