Cellulosic carrier

A process for producing a biodegradable carrier comprising the following steps:

• a) reducing and separating the chaff and pith lighter components of corncobs to produce an intermediate pulverulent product;
• b) compressing the intermediate pulverulent product under conditions to yield an intermediate product of compressed bodies having a maximum density, which conditions include:
• 1) adding 3 to 6% water to said intermediate pulverulent product;
• 2) tempering the intermediate pulverulent product of step 1) between 3 and 60 minutes;
• 3) adding moisture to said intermediate pulverulent product of step 2) to raise the moisture content to 16.0 to 18% water;
• 4) pelletizing the intermediate pulverulent product of step 3) by passage through a die to produce an intermediate pellet product having a nominal diameter of at least 3/16";
• c) fragmenting said intermediate pellet product under conditions to yield a maximum percentage of granules within a desired size range, said fragmenting being accomplished by a shearing as the intermediate pellet product is passed between break rolls, wherein the moisture control in step b) 1), 2) and 3) yields an intermediate pellet product having minimum friableness in step b) 4) so that the fragmenting process of this step c) yields a minimum of undersized fines;
• and
• d) classifying said granules from step c) to produce a granular product of said granules having a given screen size range.