Digital Re-print - January | February 2010

Feature title: Wheat Preparation - Cleaning, Conditioning & colour sorting

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A
few years ago these three
topics would not have been
considered in the same
article. However today, things are
quite different and colour sorters
are now considered an integral, if
not always significant part of any
modern day wheat cleaning flow
and now there are few screen
rooms that do not have at least
one colour-sorting device in the
flow, of one sort or another.
“Dry wheat, wet wheat, wheat
with variable moisture spread
unevenly through the kernel,
all of these items can give the
miller quite a headache and
all are so easy to identify,
resolve and correct”
18 | January - february 2010
Wheat Feature Feature Wheat
by Jonathan bradshaw
Not always part of the main stream, but still apply – obviously, since wheat has The sturdy, robust and a part cargo,
certainly a significant weapon in the miller’s remained unchanged, physically, despite reliable drum separator split down and
armoury these days! the best efforts of the plant breeders. Most drum separators are much more shared by a
And when we consider cleaning and sturdy than those produced even a few years group of indi-
However, we no longer use separate
preparing wheat for milling, perhaps the ago, we don’t see the heap of twisted metal vidual millers
items of equipment to remove each
most important aspect of having wheat in a screen in the corner of the silo any more, from an ocean
type of impurity in every screen room
suitable state for arrival at first break is the principally brought about by a large lump of going Panamax
since, thankfully, and because of better
way in which we carry out the conditioning tramp metal being allowed to pass through or similar sized
harvesting techniques, I dare to proffer
process. There are more problems that arise the intake pit grid, left ‘ajar’ by the driver vessel on
that wheat is much cleaner than it used
on the mill due to poor and inaccurate tem- keen to get on his way. coastal vessels
to be when it arrives at the mill.
pering or conditioning than any other single from Europe
Now that wheat is traded at 15 Drum separators, particularly the Buhler
process before first break. and on which
percent moisture content as opposed and Satake machines, are now extremely
Dry wheat, wet the minimum
to the 16 percent which was the case robust and reliable, the former having lived
wheat, wheat with freight quantity
up until the late 1980s, it is inherently through and developed in some really harsh
variable moisture may be greater
cleaner just because impurities naturally conditions in North Africa and the Middle
spread unevenly than we would
separate away much easier at lower East and the latter having being developed in
through the kernel, normally deem
all of these items moisture levels. With many farmers
also using central, common grain stor-
the maize mills of East, Central and Southern
Africa where they have had to be robust to
acceptable in
financial terms
can give the miller
quite a headache and
all are so easy to
age facilities post harvest, where grain
is cleaned to within the accepted two
survive.
for everyday
storage.
Grain storage times
identify, resolve and
correct.
percent limit for impurities prior to
storage, the role of the cleaning house, Having given grain a tertiary clean at the
In such cir-
cumstances, in
certainly in new mill installations, is very
Five much reduced and screen room flows
first point of intake we then store it in dirty
wheat silos until it is needed. Grain storage
order to main-
tain the quality
principles of are consequently greatly reduced in times are much shorter these days since and freshness
separation terms of machinery content. finance does not allow us the luxury of stor- of this stored
We were all We now use drum separators on ing grain in quantity, and there is little point grain it is my
taught the five intake in much the same way as we did in just having grain sat there in storage when
money can be better used elsewhere.
belief that it
principles of sepa- in the mid-20th century, principally, just should be reg-
ration when we as a policeman to control large impuri- However, in some circumstances we can-
not avoid having to store some grain.
ularly turned
over from one
studied for our ties, wood, tramp metal and masonry,
milling exams and often dug up by loading shovels when Imported, specialty wheat, for exam- bin or silo to
the same principles scraping the last of a season’s grain out. ple, that may well have been shipped as another and
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy Grain &feed millinG technoloGy PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE January - february 2010 | 19

Image courtesy of Satake
The Satake, AlphaScan II 160 High Flow grain color sorter
aerated in order to keep it in its best
condition.
Most grain, coming from central storage
or from farm directly to the mill is only in our
silos for a few days, or weeks at maximum,
and sometimes only hours.
Wheat of different varieties and different
analytical qualities are blended from the dirty
wheat bins and this procedure is becoming
more important as quality wheats demand
premium prices in the market place. This
need to blend more accurately is not just
because of finances, but also from a regular
quality control point of view.
Loss-in-weight becoming
more widespread
The use of loss-in-weight feeder is
becoming more widespread and the
demise of the volumetric feeder is now
almost complete. The Buhler flo-balancer
is still very popular at home and abroad
and can always be relied on to provide
accurate blends. This workhorse for many
years is being replaced with even more
sophisticated and reliable machinery, as
20 | January - february 2010
we have come to expect from the ever-
dependable Swiss.
Following on from the blending station,
the first machine we see in all screen rooms
is the milling separator, adequately protected
by magnets at the inlets and usually equipped
with an aspirating leg at the outlet.
Occasionally we see aspiration at the
inlet, particularly in organic mills where long
straw is a particular problem. Organic grain,
when growing naturally, tends to have longer
straw than wheat grown under more chemi-
cally controlled conditions, but, since organic
grain is sold at a premium, the farmer or con-
tractor has no desire to allow any to fall to
the floor in the field as it is harvested, hence
it tends to be treated with ‘kid gloves’ and
as well as maximising the amount harvested,
along with the grain itself comes a wider
range of straw and impurities than we tra-
ditionally associate with conventional grain.
Coarse rubble screens
All separators are equipped with coarse
rubble screens generally around 10mm in
diameter and finer, sand and seed screens
Wheat Feature Feature Feature
around two mm diameter and invariably
slotted to avoid blinding too often, although
it is becoming more regular to see coarser
bottom screens, up to five mm slots and
then subsequent independent treatment of
the grain stream to recover sound wheat
rather than the continued removal of impuri-
ties.
The reasons behind this are that it allows
the separator to operate for long periods of
time without blinding up and it ensures that
screenings are kept to a minimum.
Gone are the days when we sought to
remove every last impurity, rather that we
keep a part grain in the stream through first
break and support the economic equation of
maximising yield which is what we continu-
ally strive for in all mills.
It is quite a while since we spent hours as
millers seeking that last 0.1 percent extrac-
tion from the mill itself having just thrown
away 0.2 percent in the screen room in
order to let us achieve this. Thankfully such
false economies have now been realized and
corrected.
Back to colour sorting
& mycotoxins
Moving on, we see a plethora of bespoke
machines, usually involving some means of
stone removal, some gravity separations and
occasionally some other specialty process
depending on the local growing conditions in
the area around the mill or perhaps because
of some national or international change in
wheat quality as we currently see with unac-
ceptable mycotoxin levels being the reason
for some millers increasing the scouring
capabilities within the wheat cleaning plant
or perhaps adopted peeling or debran-
ning techniques as part of their processing
philosophy.
I don’t propose to dwell on this subject
here as it is addressed elsewhere quite
adequately.
As far as colour sorting is concerned and
in connection with mycotoxins, there are
those who believe that mycotoxins can be
treated to highlight the level of contamina-
tion by a variance in colour, usually red and
then use this colour variation to separate out
the offending grain kernels.
Some others believe that density or hag-
berg levels will vary according to the level of
mycotoxin present.
Personally, whilst I applaud the research
work being done, I have yet to be convinced
that there is any form of practical applica-
tion of this technology yet in operation in
any mills, wherever they may be, and await
developments before signing up to any
‘wonder cure’ for the unwelcome mycotoxin
levels we currently see.
Perhaps more useful and practically appli-
cable is a good housekeeping regime, regular
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy &feed millinG technoloGy
Grain PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE January - february 2010 | 21

cleaning of silos and a sensible decision as to
when is the right time to harvest, dry and
store grain. No doubt many will challenge
my views in days, weeks and years to come.
Your comments are welcome, as always.
Colour sorters can be used to good
value in several areas within the wheat
cleaning plant, the most common areas
thus far in the older mills, and by that I
refer to mills built circa 1980 and earlier,
and are used in order to tidy up the
general layout of a plant and remove old
banks of disc separators and trieur cylin-
ders that are either badly worn out or no
longer performing satisfactorily.
Some of the obvious advantages of
“The small things that the trained eye can
see will make a world of difference whether
they are left untreated to create havoc at
a later date or whether they are dealt with
immediately by the diligent manager who then
goes on his way knowing that he is on top
of his job and can turn his attention to the
more significant aspects of management”
22 | January - february 2010
“Good management of silos
is also crucial to effective
tempering and regular
inspection and cleaning of silos
is vital to a mill’s operation”
colour sorters is that they take up very lit-
tle space, require little or no steelwork to
support themselves and can be brought
on line at the flick of a switch – almost
‘plug & play’ as modern jargon would
refer to it.
Another significant role for the colour
sorter in specialty situations, where per-
haps breakfast cereals are the end result
of their use is that it is quite easy to
standardise the calibration of a machine.
There has often been dispute about
the ‘true’ level of impurities in any deliv-
ery of grain used for further processing
by breakfast cereal manufacturers and
a simple reference sample run through
colour sorters at both customers and
suppliers plants can alleviate any disagree-
ment between the two parties.
For this reason it is often quite com-
mon to see the retreat channel on a col-
our sorter, used as a ‘policeman’ for the
whole plant to ensure cleanliness of the
grain stream rather than just cleanliness
of the grain passing through the colour
sorter.
I have no doubt that the application of
colour sorters will continue and the scope
of use will continue to widen as ideas
develop and theories are proven. More
on this subject in future issues.
Basic principles of
conditioning
And to conclude this article we are led to
the contentious subject of conditioning grain.
How long should we condition or temper
for? Should we temper in one pass or two,
or, in some cases, three, where wheat is
very dry? The debate has been going on
for generations and I doubt whether I will
answer all the queries at one shot, however,
it is my belief that there are some basic
principles to be adopted and if these are
adhered to the results will be adequate for
the costs incurred.
These basic principles are firstly to match
the number of passes to the level of mois-
ture being added, obviously having due
regard to ambient temperature.
I hesitate to give a percentage rate, since
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy
Feature Wheat
nearly every miller will have a view that
conflicts with mine and which I am sure is
derived from many years’ practical experi-
ence, suffice to say that I believe in generous
allocation of tempering capacity at first tem-
pering and I also believe in using that space
to its maximum potential at all times.
It is acceptable, to leave some space
unused after a mill is built if that space is not
required for the wheat moisture pertinent
at the time, but you cannot add space effec-
tively if requirements are underestimated at
the design stage.
First-in first-out
An important criteria is the use of First In
First Out (FIFO) techniques when designing
bin outlets. All millers are familiar with the,
multiple outlets, evenly spaced, etc.
This allows grain to do exactly what the
principle describes, let the first grain that
was damped to be the first grain to pass out
to either first break or the next phase of
conditioning. Without this type of bin outlet
the operations of effective tempering will be
severely compromised.
In fact, I belief this methodology should
be applied to all grain bins and silos on a
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy
flour mill site, or indeed any other type of
mill including rye, maize etc.
Silo management and
effective tempering
Good management of silos is also crucial
to effective tempering and regular inspection
and cleaning of silos is vital to a mill’s opera-
tion. Each miller will have his own view as
to whether he should use his own staff and
equipment to inspect and clean silos.
Some millers choose to use an outside
contractor for all confined space entry work,
if for no other reason than to absolve them-
selves and their employees of the liability that
such work involves.
Others choose to manage the risk and
train staff accordingly and minimise the
expense that contractors will charge. Either
way there are some items in the early stages
of mill design that can make life easier for
whoever is carrying out the cleaning and
inspection.
Good access and ventilation provided by
sensibly sized access doorways or silo ingress
facilities at the top will assist greatly. Good
internal lighting is of great value, as is a fixed
supply of clean air, which can be accessed
Quality grain storage
Grain. Which is why we never
It’s your underestimate the importance
business. of how it is handled.
PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE
easily at all time by silos operators or con-
tract cleaners alike.
Daily walk-around
Regular schedules for filter cleaning will
help keep dust levels to a minimum when
working in a silo and it is not beyond com-
prehension to coincide filter maintenance
with silo maintenance so that filters can
be cleaned and serviced immediately prior
to full inspection and cleaning of individual
silos.
And throughout all the items I have
referred to in this article there is a need for
good management to control all operations.
That daily walk round, using a checklist
(mentally stored or printed out and used as
a record) is of vital importance.
The small things that the trained eye can
see will make a world of difference whether
they are left untreated to create havoc at
a later date or whether they are dealt with
immediately by the diligent manager who
then goes on his way knowing that he is on
top of his job and can turn his attention to
the more significant aspects of management
… or at least those items who appear higher
on his or her superior’s agenda!
We’re right up there
If you need a partner with the
expertise, technology and
manufacturing methods to
ensure that your storage plant
is second-to-none in terms of
quality and processes, then
look no further.
You can trust in Chief.
Beckingham Business Park
Tolleshunt Major, Maldon
Essex CM9 8LZ, UK
Tel +44 (0)1621 868944
Fax +44 (0)1621 868955
E-mail sales@chief.co.uk
www.chief.co.uk
January - february 2010 | 23
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