Corn Cob Products – J-Six Enterprise’s Wide Variety of Corn Cob Products
It is a wonder of technology that we can make a wide variety of corn cob products from renewable agricultural materials. Our corn cob products start as seed corn grown on regular Midwest farms. Fairview Mills, a division of J-Six Enterprises, takes the corn cobs, which might otherwise simply be thrown away, and turn them into products for retail and commercial applications!
Using Corn Cobs
Corn cobs are a natural byproduct – the hard, woody cob of seed corn. After the corn is harvested, the cobs themselves are then ground into fine, uniform particles. We are proud to be one of the few corn cob processors nationwide that offer custom formulation of how we mill the corn cobs! The most standard way of processing corn cobs results in fine, uniform particles. These particles are non-toxic, recyclable, biodegradable, lightweight, incredibly absorbent, and gentle. When a commercial or retail customer uses our corn cob products, they can rest assured that they are using a USDA-certified BioPreferred renewable product!
The Many Applications For Corn Cob Products
Corn cobs are a renewable, biodegradable product that can be used in a variety of applications. Whether used in whole pieces, as flakes, or milled into a grit, corn cobs can be processed to fit a large range of uses. Let us show you some examples of what corn cob products can do!
Absorbent Applications
Corn cob products are an environmentally friendly and biodegradable way to absorb a large variety of liquids, including oil, grease, water, coolants, sludge, and most non-aggressive fluids. This makes them excellent for routine shop spills, but let’s think larger – corn cobs can be used to control and clean up large oil spills on beaches and even within bodies of water themselves! They absorb liquids better than many other absorbent materials, meaning that you’ll need to use less product to clean up a mess. They’re also incredibly lightweight and add only a small volume to the initial spill. This matters greatly when it comes to transportation and disposal costs, and even makes it possible for the dried corn cobs to be transported to a spill area and dropped from cargo planes. From large oil spills all the way down to simply being used as kitty litter, corn cob’s absorbent properties are worth tapping into!
Biodiesel
There is an ever-increasing interest in finding alternatives to oil for energy production. Multiple studies have shown that the amount of heat that a corn cob generates during combustion makes it a viable possibility for use as an alternative fuel. While still in its early stages of study, it is astounding to think that biodiesel is among the list of corn cob products!
Animal Bedding
J-Six Enterprises is proud to offer a superior retail corn cob product – our KanzaCob Horse Bedding! Our horse bedding is made from the most absorbent and lightweight parts of the corncobs. Compacted into pellets using only steam and water as the binding agents, there are no potentially harmful additives or chemicals used in our process. Once our corn cob pellets are placed in the stall, the horse steps on the pellets. Within 24 hours, the bedding has opened up – soft, absorbent, and enjoyable to your horse. Additionally, KansaCob Horse Bedding is completely biodegradable, and will compost in as little as 6 months!
Blast Cleaning
From blast cleaning to paint removal, corn cob products clean surfaces without damaging the underlying material. It’s also a non-toxic alternative to other blast cleaning media! Because it is biodegradable and non-toxic, it is an excellent choice for many industrial applications. And as an added bonus, it leaves exactly no residue on surfaces. These characteristics make corn cobs a perfect choice for dealing with fire and smoke damage, cleaning wooden structures before painting, and removing graffiti from all manners of surfaces. Unlike steel grit, corn cob grit has a low dust level, is biodegradable, and is safe to use on sensitive surfaces.
Polishing And Deburring
Fairview Mills can fine tune the milling process used to create corn cob grit, and make a corn cob product specifically for use in polishing and deburring metals. While some companies may produce the same product for both blast cleaning and polishing, we have found that slight alterations to the milling process creates a grit that is tailor-made for use on metal surfaces! This can be used on aluminum, ball bearings, brass, cutlery, engine parts, jewelry, roller chains, metal antiques, and tubular products to create a smooth, polished surface that is completely free of burr and other residues.
Feed Fiber
Corn cobs – whether whole or ground into a grit – are an excellent option for ranchers wanting to boost the fiber content of their livestock diet. Corn cob has a nutritional profile of 54.5% sugar, 2.2% crude protein, 0.4% cruse fat, 29.7% crude fiber, and 1.2% various minerals. These minerals include calcium, phosphorus, and sodium. Corn cobs are frequently used as a grain supplement to livestock with access to hay or pasture.
Carrier Applications
There are many times when a product needs a thickener or a binding agent. Rather than creating an entirely new product, corn cobs offer an environmentally friendly and natural option. Corn cob products can be used in herbicides, pesticides, chemical production, various health supplements (for example, it’s used to make the popular sugar replacement, xylitol), and even fragrances!
Insulation
Work has been done in utilizing corn cob products as a raw thermal insulation material! In these studies, corn cob flakes have been used as a filling material, but corn cob grit has also been used to create particleboard and lightweight concrete. While using corn cobs in these products creates lightweight building materials that reuse what may otherwise be considered as agricultural waste, it also turns out that particleboard and concrete made using corn cob products have thermal retention properties!
J-Six Enterprises – A Full Circle Agricultural Company
Fairview Mills is proud to be one of many divisions of J-Six Enterprises. In choosing Fairview Mills for your corn cob products, you have easy access to our wide range of services. This helps you get from raw material to finished product without having to deal with multiple companies along the way! In addition to the production of corn cob products, J-Six Enterprises will also:
- Store your bulk pet food ingredients or bagged products
- Handle your pet food ingredient bagging needs
- Transload your pet food ingredients from railcar to storage facility
- Transport your products directly to your consumer, be that farmer or store
- Extrude pet food and pet treats as a contract manufacturer
- Create dust-free pellets or crumbles in our pelleting facility
- Mill corn into a grit suitable for both human and animal consumption
Fairview Mills’ corn cob products are a division of J-Six Enterprises. J-Six Enterprises is a full circle agriculture company. We care about the land that we farm, the livestock we raise, and the soil in which we plant the seed. Crops that we grow feed our livestock. The livestock we raise produce quality products for both people and their animals. The nutrients from the livestock then fertilize the land – that helps raise the crops – that feeds the livestock – that feeds people and their pets. And the full circle continues.
https://www.jsixenterprises.com/blog/pet-food-extrusion/
Corn Cob Products at Google Scholar