Corn Oil

Corn oil, also called maize oil, is oil extracted from the germ of corn, used mainly for cooking and frying because of its high smoke point, and also blended into some margarines; it is generally cheaper than many other vegetable oils. It is produced by expeller pressing followed by solvent extraction with hexane or isohexane, then refined through degumming, alkali treatment, winterization to remove waxes, and steam-distillation deodorization at 232 to 260 degrees Celsius under vacuum. In 2018 the United States led world production at 1.71 million tonnes, followed by China at 484,000 tonnes and Brazil at 146,000 tonnes, with the top ten producing countries together making more than 2.7 million tonnes; the oil is roughly 12.9 percent saturated fat, 27.6 percent monounsaturated fat and 58 percent polyunsaturated fat, mostly linoleic acid, and beyond food it is used in biodiesel, soap, paint and textile processing.