economy

The Pyongyang Cornstarch Factory has recently developed and introduced a new technique of making with cornhusk microcrystalline cellulose, which is used as an additive in foodstuff and medicines.

“We established a technique of producing and supplying microcrystalline cellulose by our own efforts with a by-product of corn processing, which had been used as a feed for domestic animals in the past, as the main raw material. This has made it possible for the production units of processed flour products and medicines to improve the quality of products while lowering their costs,” said Ri Hyok Min, staffer at the Pyongyang Cornstarch Factory.

The factory concentrated its efforts on devising a new technique for using cornhusk coming from production processes in large quantities in line with the characteristics of the factory specializing in the production of processed corn.

Technicians scientifically confirmed the main factors affecting the extraction rate of microcrystalline cellulose in the course of analyzing the structure of cornhusk and its ingredients and found out optimal technical indexes.

And they solved technical problems arising in clearly removing protein and starch from cornhusk and preserving the shape of cellulose.

They verified the rational concentration of bleaching solution and bleaching temperature and time capable of increasing the bleach degree of the cellulose separated from cornhusk and the ground grain size capable of ensuring the quality indexes and, through the detailed analysis of the quality of the microcrystalline cellulose, proved that it is excellent in all the qualitative characteristics including grain size, degree of crystallinity and degree of whiteness.

On the basis of this, the factory set up a microcrystalline cellulose production process.

The factory’s microcrystalline cellulose has been introduced into production of processed flour like pastry and yeast bread at the Kumsong Foodstuff Factory and different other foodstuff factories and into the production of tablets at pharmaceutical factories, proving highly effective in improving the quality of products.

At present, the factory is focusing on the research to improve the quality of corn starch and glucose syrup.