Effects of thermophilic and acidophilic microbial consortia on maize wet-milling steeping

To understand the ecology of species and promote biotechnology through beneficial strain selection for improving starch yield in maize wet-milling steeping, bacterial diversity and community structure during the counter-current steeping process in a commercial steeping system were characterized and investigated. The microbial diversity in the steeping liquor, which consisted of 16 phyla, 131 families, and 290 genera, was more abundant compared to those present on the surface of unsteeped maize. As the counter-current steeping progressed, exposing newer maize to the older steepwater, Lactobacillus dominated, replacing Rahnella, Pseudomonas, Pantoea, and Serratia. The thermophilic and acidophilic microbial consortia were enriched through adaptive evolution engineering and employed to improve starch yield. Several steeping strategies were evaluated, including water alone, SO₂ alone, mono-culture of B. coagulans, microbial consortia, and a combination of consortium and SO₂. Combining the microbial consortium with SO₂ significantly increased the starch yield to, about 66.4 ± 0.5%, a 22% and 46% increase over SO₂ alone and the consortium alone, respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) of steeped maize structure indicated that the combination of consortium and SO₂ disrupted the protein matrix and widened gaps between starch granules in maize endosperm. This released proteins into the steepwater and left starch granules in the aleurone layer. The steeping strategy of using thermophilic and acidophilic microbial consortium as additives shows potential application as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional maize steeping procedures.