What Is the Main Fermentation Feedstock in the U.S., and Why Is Corn Used So Often?

Is Corn the Primary U.S. Industrial Fermentation Feedstock for Bioethanol and Biomanufacturing?

Corn is the primary feedstock behind many U.S. fermentation processes because it supplies easily fermentable sugars (often via corn starch to glucose) and dominates domestic ethanol production.

Question

What is the main feedstock used in many fermentation processes in the U.S.?

A. Soybeans
B. Corn
C. Wheat
D. Barley

Answer

B. Corn

Explanation

Many large-scale U.S. fermentation-based industrial processes rely on sugars that are easy to extract and ferment, and in the U.S. a dominant source of these fermentable sugars is glucose derived from corn starch. Corn is also explicitly identified as the feedstock for most domestic U.S. ethanol production, making it the most common/primary feedstock in many high-volume fermentation applications.