Waste Biomass Valor
DOI 10.1007/s12649-017-0029-4
REVIEW
A Review of the Primary By-product (Nejayote)
of the Nixtamalization During Maize Processing: Potential Reuses
Roberto Castro‑Muñoz1 · Vlastimil Fíla1 · Enrique Durán‑Páramo2 
Received: 1 December 2016 / Accepted: 21 July 2017
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017
Abstract The production of nixtamalized products
worldwide has been increased over past decades. The first
pre-treatment applied to maize is the well-known Nixta-
malization procedure, which produces large quantities of
its primary by-product called ‘Nejayote’; this by-product
is commonly discarded into the urbanized sewage without
any additional treatment. Recently, Nejayote has attracted
attention due to its high organic load based on high content
of organic (arabinoxylans, phenolic compounds, sugars,
fibers) and inorganic compounds (calcium). Thus, this by-
product may have potential for value-added processing and
utilization, which can be alternatives, that simultaneous
hold the promise of increased economic benefit for masa
producers as well as decreased potential pollution for the
environment. The goal of this paper is to provide a critical
review of reusing this primary by-product. State-of-the-art
of developments in the field are chronologically reported
and described. Particular attention is paid to experimen-
tal results reported for the reclamation of its high-added
value compounds that have been identified as the potential
approach concerning on the utilization of the by-product.
The recovered components have demonstrated biological
activities that increase their potential exploitation.
* Roberto Castro‑Muñoz
castromr@vscht.cz; food.biotechnology88@gmail.com
1
University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická
5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic
2
Laboratorio de Bioconversiones, Unidad Profesional
Interdisciplinaria de Biotecnología, Instituto Politécnico
Nacional, Av. Acueducto S/N Col. Barrio La Laguna,
Ticoman, 07340 Mexico, D.F., Mexico
Keywords  High-added value compounds · Maize-
processing · Nixtamalization · Waste · Recovery ·
Recycling
Abbreviations
AXs Arabinoxylans
BOD Biological oxygen demand
COD Chemical oxygen demand
MF Microfiltration
NWs Nixtamalization wastewaters
NF Nanofiltration
UF Ultrafiltration
Introduction
Nowadays, total maize (Zea mays) production is around
832.5 million metric tons; the United States, Brazil, Mex-
ico, Argentina, India, France, Indonesia, South Africa, and
Italy produce 79% of the world’s maize production. World-
wide, 60–70% of maize production is used domestically as
livestock feed, and the remaining 30–40% is used for pro-
duction of items for human consumption [1]. Firstly, the
maize has to be processed by alkaline pretreatment well-
called Nixtamalization process, where the maize grains are
commonly cooked in a saturated calcium hydroxide solu-
tion [2]; the grains are separated from the alkaline solution
in order to obtain the Nixtamal product [3], which is the
basis of the commercial methods to produce products such
as instant corn flours, tortilla and other corn-based foods
[4–6]. The alkaline solution is well known as Nejayote.
The maize processing industry generates large amounts
of this by-product due to the traditional process requires a
large volume approximately, 75 L of water is used to pro-
cess 50 kg of corn kernels, meaning that a similar amount
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 Waste Biomass Valor

of alkaline wastewater is produced [7]. Salmeron-Alcocer obtained from the maize processing. The most relevant
et  al. [8] reported that a production of 600  Ton corn per results from recently published studies are analyzed and
day generates between 1500 and 2000 m3 of Nejayote, the discussed. Finally, the future developments concerning the
estimated monthly volume generated in Mexico is about use of Nejayote are addressed.
1.2  millon  m3, reaching generate about 14.4  million  m3
of Nejayote each year [9]. This extract contains several
parts of the grain such as pericarp, germ, dietary fiber, and Starting Attempts for Reusing of Nejayote:
endosperm [9]. Table 1 reports the physico-chemical com- Environmental Framework
position of Nejayote according to several studies.
The presence of bioactive compounds has been also COD Removal Using Bioreactors
demonstrated in the by-product, such as arabinoxylans
(AXs) [7, 10], dietary fiber [11], and polyphenols [12, 13] Since last decade, the main attempts of scientists con-
such as hydroxycinnamic, p-cumaric, feluric, dehydrodifer- cerned to the treatment of Nejayote in order to reduce its
ulic, and dehydrotriferulic acids [10]. COD property. For example, one of the first reports was
Taking into account the characteristics and its chemi- registered by Civit et al. [15], they implemented an anaero-
cal composition of Nejayote, there is strong evidence that bic treatment conformed for five-reactor cascade, which
contributes to the water and environmental pollution due achieved a COD removal of 92.6% after 73 days of operat-
to its high biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical ing time; additionally, the gas production was the second-
oxygen demand (COD) [12]. Nejayote is directly discarded ary aim through the system. A gas composition from 65.2
without additional water treatment cost with environmen- to 91% methane in volume was obtained. The generation
tal laws. Since last decade, scientists have looked for useful of biogas seems to be a sustainable approach due to the
approaches in order to provide it an extra value. Based on fuel can be recycled in the own Nixtamalization process. A
Rosentrater [14], the most developed approach concerns the considerable COD removal (from 30 to 15 g O2 m−2) was
treatment of Nejayote through the decreasing of its organic also achieved by using an aerobic contactor [16]. However,
matter. Since 10 years ago, there is no report attending the a better decrease on COD was reported by Luna-Parabello
utilization of this primary by-product. Today, it is time to et al. [17], the population of non conventional microorgan-
analyze the state-of-the-art of the agro-industrial applica- isms, like ciliates, was helpful in the bioreactor to decrease
tions concerning to exploitation of Nejayote. Thus, the the COD up to 1040  mg COD ­L−1 (from 1760  mg COD
aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the current ­L−1), it means, a COD removal efficiency of 40%. Using
developments on the utilization of this primary by-product similar systems, Pedroza-Islas and Durán de Bazúa [18]
and Salmerón-Alcocer et  al. [8] achieved higher removal
efficiencies around 84.6 and 86.4%, respectively. Ferreira-
Table 1  Physicochemical composition of Nejayote Rolón et  al. [19] reported a COD removal efficiencies
Parameter Average higher than 90% by C ­ O2 feeding into Upflow Anaerobic
Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor, the high COD removal
pH 11.39 was attributed to the ­Ca2+ precipitation through ­CO2 bub-
Total solids (%) 2.28 bling. In spite of these efficient removals, the authors con-
Total suspended solids (mg L−1) 8342.5 cluded that the treated by-products still require a further
Carbohydrates (%) 0.862 treatment prior to its disposal [8, 18, 19]. The starting
Ash (%) 0.767 attempts facing to the disposal of Nejatote were focused on
Electrical conductivity (μS cm−1) 4510.12 decreasing its pollution potential. Generally, the pollution
Turbidity (NTU) 963.3 is created through the insufficient infrastructure, technol-
Chemical oxygen demand (­ mgO2 ­L−1) 40058.14 ogy, financial resources, and legislation of the countries
Calcium (mg L−1) 1526.21 to ease the disposal and provide a final destination for the
Density (kg m−3) 1003.54 Nejayote [20]. The following Fig. 1 shows a summarization
Fiber (%) 0.581 of this section, which basically provides an overview of the
Fat (%) 0.008 first attemps applied to Nejayote.
Crude protein (%) 0.113 As was mentioned previously, the conventional treatment
Hardness (mg L−1) 5768.67 systems are not good enough to decrease the total pollution
Total organic carbon (mg L−1) 2984.10 in spite of to their high COD removal efficiencies, this is
Total polyphenols (mg L−1) 1190.74 totally attributed to the large quantities of components con-
Adapted from Valderrama-Bravo et al. [3]; Castro-Muñoz and Yáñez- tained in Nejayote. Recently, it has been reported different
Fernández [45] procedures aiming to decrease the COD in Nejayote. For

13
Waste Biomass Valor
Fig. 1  General scheme applied
on Nejayote in order to decrease
its pollution
example, Valderrama-Bravo et  al. [3] and Valderrama-
Bravo et  al. [21] proposed a mechanical method base on
constant pressure filtration in order to decrease the content
of organic and inorganic matter. Whereas García-Zamora
et  al. [22] developed an enzymatic treatment (laccase)
using chitosan as an absorbent, where the oxidized phenols
via enzymatic react with the polysacharide, producing a
precipitate that can be easily separated through filtration or
sedimentation. This enzymatic procedure leads to achiev-
ing removal efficiencies for COD and phenol about of 70
and 78%, respectively [22]. Using chitosan in a coagula-
tion-flocculation process, Meraz et  al. [23] also removed
large amounts of organic load in the extract by control-
ling the turbidity, turbidity removal higher than 80% was
achieved. The coupling of these procedures followed of
an aerobic or anaerobic reactor may meet the minimum
allowable limits for Nejayote waste disposal. However, it is
important to consider the number of steps due to the eco-
nomic framework plays an important role, which makes
difficult the real implementation of the systems at an
industrial level [14]. The costs of physicochemical treat-
ments being particularly high, alternative systems for the
treatment of organic matter are nowadays increasingly the
focus of research. Most of such systems involve anaerobic
or aerobic biological treatments. But in case of biological
treatments of carbonaceous, nitrogenous and phosphorous
pollution have demostrated to be more feasible for high salt
concentrations extracts, the performance obtained depends
on a suitable adaptation of the biomass or the use of the
organisms [24]. Hence, the extract began to be regarded as
a source in the production of other valuable feedstocks, i.e.
biomass, animal feedstocks, etc.; next section will provide
an overview in detail the studies concerning the aforemen-
tioned objective.
Finally, if the pollution of Nejayote is still high and
the methodologies applied to the by-product are not even
enough, a good opportunity could be the modification of
the Nixtamalization procedure, i.e., trying to use another
type of alkalis such as calcium chloride (­CaCl2), cal-
cium sulphate ­CaSO4, calcium carbonate ­CaCO3, calcium
acetate (Ca(CH3–COO)2), instead of calcium hydroxide
(Ca(OH)2). According to Campechano Carrera et  al. [2],
these salts reduce the losses of the maize matter, which
finally are disposed into Nejayote. The decreasing of maize
matter can be up to 50%; in addition, the primary by-prod-
uct also may present different physicochemical properties,
for example, pH close to neutrality.
Production of Animal Feedstock Using Nejayote
This primary by-product, mainly considered as wastewater,
is commonly used on biotechnological approaches in order
to produce biomass. The biomass tends to contain high
amounts of bromatological components to enrich animal
feedstocks, which are especially for ruminant animals that
can digest these materials [14]. For intance, Nejayote was
employed to generate biomass (in anaerobic system) that
present high contents of protein (41.5%), fat (3.45%), fiber
(14.8%), and ash (15.1%) [18]. The production of algae
biomass was also tried without any previous proceeding,
however, the extremely properties of the Nejayote did not
lead the population of the strain [25]. On the other hand,
13

the utilization of this by-product without any complex treat-
ment can be done, i.e., Velasco-Martinez et  al. [26] used
the dried solids of Nejayote on broiler growth, highlighting
that nejayote solids are suitable for broiler feed and do not
affect growth performance. It is important to note that dried
solids satisfy the NRC dietary requirements according to its
content of protein and calcium [26]. But it is especially rich
in polysaccharides, that is, about 75% of nonstarch poly-
saccharides from alkaline- soluble hemicelluloses, known
as “corn hull gums”, which have potential functional prop-
erties, such as thickening, emulsifying, stabilizing, and
extending [27]. The recovery of these Nejayote solids can
be done by water removal, for example, Nogueira-Terrones
et al. [28] reported that using hot air cabinet drier, at 60 °C
and 1.5 m s−1 air velocity, is enough to eliminate the water
content and obtain the powder. The transformation of
Nejayote into feedstock for use in fermentation can be also
possible [20, 29]. According to Gutiérrez-Macías et al. [20]
there are different pretreatments, such as physical, chemi-
cal, physicochemical and biological, to increase the avail-
ability of fermentable compounds. However, it is necessary
to consider the role of the nixtamalization process as the
alkaline procedure to hydrolyze the surface of the maize
grains. If the hydrolysis degree of the compounds is not
enough, the combination of other pretreatments can be an
alternative [30, 31]. Particularly, chemical treatments with
low cost and high conversion efficiencies can be profitable.
As a brief outlook over the last decades, the environ-
mental approaches, as well as the feedstock production,
have shown two different ways trying to face the Nejayote
disposal. The feedstock production can be considered as a
promising alternative by using its organic (fiber, carbohy-
drates, protein) and inorganic (calcium) components. How-
ever, the conversion through the fermentation is another
dilemma that could limit the application of studies. It
means, the implementation of easy and effective techniques
can be useful for the direct recovery of the components
present in Nejayote. Furthermore, the reuse of high-added-
value components in technological approaches could be
another possibility in the valorization of this by-product.
Recent Approaches on Nejayote: Reuse of Its
High‑Added Value Compounds
Technological Developments on Foods
The development of technological approaches is a cur-
rent trend of food engineering; the use of valuable solutes
from new different sources is the key for the valorization
of wastewaters, natural extracts, and by-products. In this
framework, the reuse of bioactive compounds through
their incorporation in food products has been done, i.e.,
13
Waste Biomass Valor
Acosta-Estrada et  al. [11] developed a food additive con-
sisting of 80% Nejayote solids and 20% gluten. The addi-
tive was incorporated in wheat flour to increase the dietary
fiber, calcium, polyphenols, and antioxidant capacity of
breads. The addition of additive (around 9%) did not affect
overall baking performance and bread quality but increased
dietary fiber about of 54% in bread. Furthermore, enriched
bread contained about 745 times more the ferulic acid con-
tent, increasing up to 70% their antioxidant capacity. With
the strong evidence of the last study, Nejayote solids dem-
onstrated that they could be used as a potential food ingre-
dient in the preparation of bakery products with enhancing
the dietary fiber, calcium, nutraceuticals and antioxidant
properties. With the strong evidence of this last study,
Nejayote solids demonstrated that they could be used as a
potential food ingredient in the preparation of bakery prod-
ucts with enhancing the dietary fiber, calcium, nutraceuti-
cals and antioxidant properties. Taking into the potentiza-
tion of the antioxidant activity in bread, directly associated
to hydroxycinnamic acids and polyphenols of AX [10], the
use of Nejayote can lead to producing functional foods by
adding these nutraceutical ingredients [32].
Recovery of High‑Added Value Compounds
from the Extract
As it is well known, Nejayote is a by-product rich in sev-
eral classes of valuable components such as carbohydrates,
fibers, phenolic compounds, sugars, calcium, etc. The
AXs are part of these valuable components that have been
already recovered. These components are non-starch poly-
saccharides, from the cell walls of cereal endosperm, which
have an interesting technological potential. Niño-Medina
et al. [7] extracted feruloylated arabinoxylans (ferulic acid
content of 0.23 μg mg−1) by alkaline hydrolisis. Certainly,
the study demonstrated a high gelling capability of these
compounds due to some of the arabinose residues are ester
linked on (O)-5 to ferulic acid (3-methoxy, 4 hydroxy cin-
namic acid), and AX can form covalent gels by oxidation of
ferulic acid resulting in the formation of dimers (di-ferulic
acid) and trimers (tri-ferulic acid) of ferulic acid as cova-
lent cross-linking structures [33]. In addition, Niño-Medina
et al. [7] also highlighted that the recovery of this gum from
a low-value maize by-product could represent a commer-
cial advantage over other gums commonly used in the food
industry, i.e., baking industry. It is important to note that
30–40% of the total weight of the pericarp are AXs [34],
it means, the pericarp, totally and partially hydrolyzed that
found in Nejayote, can be considered as a promising source
of these components [35]. On the other hand, the biode-
gradable gels formed by AXs, could be a great alternative
against the use of gels coming from synthetic polymers like
polyethylene glycol [34].
Waste Biomass Valor
Nowadays, pressure-driven membrane processes are
considered as emerging technologies for separating, recov-
ering, and concentrating high-added valuable compounds
from wastes [36]. Micro (MF), ultra (UF), and nanofiltra-
tion (NF) have been the main processes applied for the
production of nutraceuticals from agricultural by-products
[37]. The use of these technologies is becoming an altera-
tive to recovering polyphenols from different food by-prod-
ucts such as olive mill wastewaters [38], orange press liquor
[39], artichoke wastewaters [40]. Generally, using multiple
membrane operations in sequence better called “Integrated
membrane processes” has performed the recovery of these
valuable solutes. This design was developed in Italy for a
recognized research group, the primary aim of the approach
being to reduce the occurrence of fouling phenomena in the
subsequent membrane steps by prepending high pore size
membranes, whereas the secondary aim is the fractionation
of the extracts. They have successfully achieved the frac-
tionation of different by-products in order to do their valori-
zation, as well as the recovery task [40–42]. The approach
of integrated membrane process was recently applied in
Mexico for the fractionation of Nixtamalization wastewa-
ters (NWs); Fig. 2 shows the integrated system used for the
aforementioned study.
The by-product was processed and three steps were car-
ried out: (i) an MF step to remove the suspended solids
and reduce the organic load through using a membrane of
molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 0.2  μm [43], (ii) a
UF step (membrane with MWCO of 100  kDa) to recover
Fig. 2  Integrated membrane system used for the fractionation of NWs [45]
the carbohydrates [44], and (iii) a final narrow UF step to
separate the calcium components using a 1  kDa polysul-
fone membrane was applied [45]. The final permeate from
this integrated membrane system had a high total poly-
phenol content of 951  mg  L−1 from an initial phenolic
content of 1190  mg  L−1, correspondingly, the fraction
had low TOC content [45]. In addition, the final permeate
rich in phenolic compounds presented antioxidant activity
[46]; which is totally attributed to the polyphenol content
[12]. The success of this integrated membrane process to
recover the phenolic fraction is based on different charac-
teristics of the membranes such as pore size, membrane
material, and structure [47]. Generally, the asymmetry of
the membrane’s pores enables to reject components under
this molecular weight. This asymmetry lets to consider the
UF narrow pore size membranes (1–2  kDa) as the border
of nanofiltration, based on Galanakis [48]. Furthermore,
Castro-Muñoz and Yáñez-Fernández [45] used polysulfone
(as membrane material) that tends to present a hydropho-
bic profile. It means, the rejection of water as well as the
dissolved compounds improves the efficiency recovery of
these membranes.
While the recovery of the phenolic micro-solutes
depends mainly on the narrow pore size of the membrane
used; the nature of the molecules also plays an important
role. For instance, polyphenols present aromatic rings
and aliphatic chains that produce a hydrophobic profile,
which reduces the permeation performance of the mem-
branes [47, 48]. According to Galanakis [48] and Crespo
13

and Brazhina [49], the electrostatic and Coulombic inter-
actions generated between membrane surface and solutes
can improve the selectivity of the membranes too.
The only disadvantage for the integrated system
developed by Castro-Muñoz and Yáñez-Fernández [45]
is still the high membrane fouling indexes presented
in some steps (around 87%) during the fractionation.
The fouling is one the main factors that affect the per-
formance in terms of permeate flux of the membrane
processes. In this framework, properly tailored pre-
treatment procedures are required in order to avoid high
fouling rates, which would rapidly lead to zero flux con-
ditions if no pre-treatment is conducted on the raw efflu-
ent upstream the membrane process [50]. On the other
hand, the initial conditions (initial permeability) of the
membranes are almost recovered by using alkaline or
enzymatic detergents [51]. In case of these polysulfone
membranes, their cleaning efficiencies were at least 99%,
it means, the initial water permeabilities were almost
recovered [45]. Finally, the Castro-Muñoz and Yáñez-
Fernández [45] suggested the following system for the
valorization of Nejayote (see Fig.  3), which can be a
potential alternative for recovering polyphenols, carbo-
hydrates, calcium, and suspended solids.
Fig. 3  Integrated membrane
process suggested for the valori-
zation of Nejayote [45]
13
Waste Biomass Valor
The Uses of Nejayote in Biotechnological Approaches
Until last sections, it is highlighting the reclamation of dif-
ferent bioactive compounds contained in Nejayote, how-
ever, the presence of other type of biologically active matter
has been identified in this by-product. Sanchez-Gonzalez
et  al. [52] reported the isolation and characterization of
two new alkaliphilic microorganisms present in Nejayote.
The strains (NJY2 and NJY4) were identified as of Bacil-
lus flexus, which shows important physiological properties
as well as the capability to generate high-value molecules
from agro industrial by-products. For instance, the isolated
NY2 strain was able to produce ferulic acid from nixtamal-
ized corn bran and ethyl and methyl esters. In fact, this is
the first study about the isolation of alkaliphilic microor-
ganisms from Nejayote and the first report of phenolic acid
esterases synthesized by alkaliphiles. The new alkaliphilic
microorganisms have potential application in the treatment
and transformation of tortilla industry residues [52].
On the other hand, the Nejayote starts to be exploited
for another type of biotechnological applications, i.e., it has
started to be used as growth medium for different microor-
ganism [53, 54]. Ramírez-Romero et  al. [53] evaluate the
potential of the extract as growth medium for probiotic bac-
teria as well as production of bacteriocins. Three different
strains were evaluated (Lactobacillus casei IMAU60214,
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, and Lactobacillus helveticus
Waste Biomass Valor
IMAU70129). The probiotic strains performed notable
consumption of different components such as reducing
sugars (about 60–65%), total sugars (6–30%), and protein
(1–15%). Finally, the supernatant coming from the fermen-
tations was able to inhibit around 14 and 10% for Listeria
innocua and Escherichia coli K-12, respectively. After the
analysis, it was concluded that Nejayote is suitable for the
production of probiotics and bacteriocins.
In the same framework of biotechnological approaches,
ferulic acid contained in Nejayote can be useful to produc-
ing other type of high-added value compounds for food and
beverages industry. For instance, vanillin ferulic acid is bio-
transformed by various fungi through the metabolic path-
way via propenoic where is first produced the vanillic acid
followed by a reduction reaction, resulting in vanillin and
vanillyl alcohol [55]. According to the analysis provided
by Retes-Mantilla et  al. [56], the possibility of introduc-
ing natural vanillin to market from Nejayote presents two
highlighted advantages, (i) there are no side effects through
its consumption, and (ii) is 1.3 times cheaper and faster to
obtain than the natural vanillin obtained from the vanilla
pod.
Current Practices of High‑Added Value
Compounds Derived from Nejayote
Throughout this review, many studies have been reported in
which phenolic, AX, and calcium compounds were recov-
ered successfully using different conventional systems.
Despite their limited post-recovery application, some stud-
ies have proposed particular uses. For instance, Acosta-
Estrada et  al. [11] enriched dietary fiber, calcium, and
phenolic compounds from Nejayote. It is important to high-
light that food rich in bioactive compounds has become an
important choice for consumers aiming to reduce the risk
of contracting specific diseases or to treat certain minor
illnesses. Polyphenols are also important for improving
the utilization of food and agricultural products [57]. This
emerging approach on re-using of polyphenols can pro-
vide a better outlook on the utilization of valuable solutes
in the food industry. Consequently, phenolic extracts have
started to be evaluated according to their biological proper-
ties; polyphenols recovered from NWs have all been tested
against oxidative radicals [46]. Thus, polyphenol recovery
is of great interest to pharmaceutical companies looking
for ways to produce new nutraceuticals, cosmetics and food
supplements [42]. In addition, it has been demonstrated
that the free and bound polyphenols obtained from NWs
present other biological activities such as chemopreventive
activity, quinone reductase activity, and cytotoxic effects
­(IC50) [9, 58].
General Remarks and Future Developments
Over the course of this deep review, it was fully addressed
the attempts trying to re-use the primary by-product of the
Nixtamalization process. However, the reuse of Nejayote
in following Nixtamalization processes could be another
alternative to decrease its wastage. Valderrama-Bravo et al.
[59] demonstrated that its reuse does not show changes on
rheological and microbiological properties in the “masa”,
the bacterial growth was lower even than control “masa”
through using recycled Nejayote. This study provides
another opportunity to the producers to recycling the by-
product. Over last decades different type of approaches,
such as environmental, biotechnological and food techno-
logical approaches, have been proposed. Figure 4 provides
a clear overview of the recent approaches experimentally
carried out into Nejayote.
It is important to note that the reuse and recovery of
high-added value compounds contained in the extract are
the most recent attempts. The purity percentage of the
components obtained from Nejayote depends directly on
the methods used to extract them, such as centrifugation,
evaporation, sedimentation or filtration, chemical (sol-
vents) or biological (enzymes, microorganisms or reactors).
Likewise, the application of pressure-driven membrane
processes has been shown to be able to recover functional
compounds from this agro-food by-product. The implemen-
tation of membrane technologies has been lead to recover
several compounds from different types of agro-food by-
products [47, 60]. These processes have demonstrated to
meet the first four stages needed to achieve the “Universal
Recovery Process”: (i) macroscopic pre-treatment, (ii) the
separation of macro- and micromolecules, (iii) extraction,
and (iv) isolation-purification [48, 61]. The fifth stage,
product formation, is missing but this would depend on the
final use.
Recently, new sources of bioactive compounds continue
to be investigated and different functional properties are
being discovered, for example, ferulated arabinoxylans and
polyphenols contained in Nejayote. Additional studies will
also be required on the application of these arabinoxylans in
food products. In this regard, technological and nutritional
evaluation of these food products would be necessary. In
case of Arabinoxylans, they have generated research inter-
est due to their nutraceutical properties and health benefits
such as lowering blood cholesterol and sugar, cardiovascu-
lar diseases, chemopreventive activity, quinone reductase
activity, and cytotoxic as well as antioxidants properties but
complementary studies are required [10, 35]. Finally, over
this review, Can Nejayote is considered as a new source?
The answer is ‘Yes’. At least, the trials, experimentally car-
ried out, would let to consider it as a potential source of
high-added value compounds.
13

Fig. 4  Overview of the
approaches aimed at reusing
Nejayote
As general conclusion, this review showed the state-of-
the-art of studies focused on the utilization of this main
by-product. The current studies have demonstrated excel-
lent results with potential applications. It is time to do pilot
experiments trying to replicate the lab scale results. Maize
processing industry has to start the investment attending
this current issue. Concerning on it, the governments have
to start the implementation of laws in order to encourage
the companies.
Acknowledgements  R. Castro-Muñoz acknowledges the Euro-
pean Commission—Education, Audiovisual and Culture Execu-
tive Agency (EACEA) for his PhD scholarship under the program:
Erasmus Mundus Doctorate in Membrane Engineering – EUDIME
(FPA No 2011-0014, Edition V, http://eudime.unical.it). Part of this
work was supported by the Operational Program Prague – Com-
petitiveness (CZ.2.16/3.1.00/24501) and “National Program of
Sustainability“(NPU I LO1613) (MSMT-43760/2015).
Compliance with Ethical Standards  cios-Fonseca, A., Herrera, G., Rodríguez, M.E.: Study of cal-
Conflict of interest  The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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