Mass balance of tocols during corn ethanol production

Tocopherols and tocotrienols have shown potential health benefits related to heart disease, cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and immunity. Corn contains significant amounts of tocols, specifically alpha- and gamma-tocopherol and tocotrienol. In this study, we were able to identify and quantify all four isomers in eleven different by-products from the corn dry-milling process. The data collected shows that on a dry basis, the thin stillage and beer fractions contain the highest total concentration of tocols when compared to the other fractions. However, on an as-is basis, the DDGS fraction contains the highest total tocol concentration. It was also determined that the mixed grain fraction contains almost 2.5 times more tocols than the original corn fraction, representing the significantly highest amount of tocols in the system. The beer and whole stillage fractions contain approximately 1.4 times the amount of tocols in the corn fraction, representing the second highest amounts of tocols in the system. It was also determined that for every 1 mg of tocols in the corn fraction, there is approximately 1 mg of tocols in the DDGS fraction. However, the tocol content doubled from the corn to the mash and beer fractions, before decreasing to approximately 1 mg in the DDGS fraction.