Patent ID: 8236929

Claim:
A process for producing zein and xanthophylls from corn, the process comprising: extracting soluble compounds from a corn-based material with wan alcohol solvent to provide a corn-solvent mixture, the soluble compounds comprising at least zein and xanthophylls; first separation of the corn-solvent mixture into two streams, of which one stream is an extract containing substantially the zein, impurities, xanthophylls and solvent, wherein the impurities comprise substantially all components in the extract other than solvent, zein and xanthophylls, and another stream containing the remaining corn solids and solvent, said first separation comprising at least one of centrifugation, filtration, and membrane microfiltration; second separation of a zein fraction and a xanthophylls fraction from the extract containing substantially the zein, impurities, xanthophylls and solvent to provide an eluted zein fraction and an eluted xanthophyll fraction, said second separation comprising chromatography based on a size-exclusion mechanism; concentrating the separated zein fraction eluted from said second separation by removing the solvent; and concentrating the separated xanthophylls fraction eluted from said second separation by removing the solvent.