Digital Re-print - May | June 2009

Feature title: New trends in equipment and mill layout

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New trends
in equipment and mill layout
T
here has been little new
to report in terms of truly
innovative equipment of
late - although several engineers
have redesigned their principal
equipment ranges.
Investment in new machine design is
expensive and I take my hat off to those
who have deemed the industry worthy of
the heavy investment involved.
Both Buhler and Satake have both
brought out new rollermills, as have others
but these two machines seem to be the main
ones being considered for those with an eye
on the long term.
The new Buhler modular sifters are quite
an innovation and add a degree of flexibilitythe flow, hence intake cleaners are becoming
when new mill design is being considered.
“Investment in new machine
design is expensive and I take
my hat off to those who have
deemed the industry worthy of
the heavy investment involved”
The choice of how many sections to com- plants and done away with cylinders, discs
bine into one machine allows very effective and small ancillary devices, relying on just
use of building space, especially when com- a separator, colour sorter and scourer in
bined with the use of two high rollermills, some cases.
which can drastically reduce the overall
rollermill footprint in a building.
Improved tempering devices and means
of applying water pre first break has enabled ent in Europe is the desire for millers to
temper times to be reduced in some new buy clean, identifiable, quality specified and
installations, although length of tempering guaranteed wheat.
and consequent volume of temper space
required is very much a personal choice. And
we see some mills with as little as six hours
38 | may-June 2009
by Jonathan Bradshaw, Contributor
tempering whilst others, though they be rare,
allow for up to one hundred, although I sus-
pect the latter is somewhat of a misguided
interpretation of what happens on a Monday
morning when wheat has been left in temper
bins over the weekend.
Selective use in the screenroom
Most mills now are using some form of
cleaner at the intake point.
This has lost favour over the last dec-
ade or so as millers saw fit to rely on the
Screenroom separator for tramp removal.
Millers are now taking the opinion, very
correctly I think, that one should remove
what is not wanted as soon as is practicable in
more sophisticated and elaborate, whilst still
achieving high capaci-
ties demanded in this
day of quick vehicle
and vessel turnaround.
Once in the silo the
wheat passes to the
Screenroom and we
are seeing much more
selective use of equip-
ment here.
Several millers have
simplified their cleaning
Obviously, this depends on the type and
cleanliness of the wheat being milled.
A trend that is becoming more appar-
I believe this collective approach will be
adopted more widely across Europe
By this I refer to the practice of groups
Trends Feature
of farmers collectively harvesting, drying and
storing the wheat when it is ready. They use
central storage facilities and analyze all the
wheat as it arrives at the storage site.
Once the quality parameters have been
established and they know the average pro-
tein content they are then able to clean and
blend the wheat.
Hence the average can be maintained
and supplied with a guarantee throughout
the crop year.
Several millers have latched on to this as
being a way forward in guaranteeing continu-
ity of quality of supply along with a fair aver-
age price. It also, perhaps more importantly,
gives the miller a quantity of wheat available
to him that is relatively free of mycotoxins
since, because of rapid drying capacity, the
farmer group or the grain store operator
can dictate when to harvest and there is not
the temptation to leave crops in the field
waiting for the sun to dry them out whilst
field-borne and air-borne diseases develop.
There are some pundits who claim that
the bulk of the problems associated with
mycotoxins are brought about by farmers
who insist on leaving wheat out far too long
before cutting it in the vain hope they can
save a few pence by not having to dry it using
fossil fuels. All well and good if the sun can
be switched on precisely when it is required
but no defense against mycotoxin develop-
ment in a wet summer.
Whilst the jury is still out on this one I
believe this collective approach to wheat har-
vesting, drying, storage, blending and cleaning
will be adopted more widely across Europe
and large central grain units will become
quite prevalent over the next decade.
Another aspect of using farmers col-
lectively in this manner is that there are no
screenings to be disposed of at the mill,
since most grain stores also sell feed wheat
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy
Feature Trends We are now seeing the next generation of purifier
coming to the market, again with Buhler leading
the way currently with their new offering the Polaris
machine.
and can generally blend away off grade the other machines do not remove,
product and other grains that are of no value crease dirt, for one thing.
to the flour millers but can be used quite Most millers are paying attention
adequately by the feed miller. to exhaust systems and there is a
distinct trend for more air to be used
Reducing investments at the mill in wheat cleaning plants. The plants
Having said all this, the effect on the of the seventies and eighties, when
millers will be to reduce the investment at air was really abundant it use to be
the mill. Those with existing facilities will quite cold to work in and we are
obviously not remove them but I do see seeing a return to those days when
laboratory facilities being slimmed down volumes of air are very generous and
Image courtesy of Buhler (www.buhlergroup.com)
since there is little point in testing something all machines are carefully exhausted.
twice. I also see many millers operating with If it does nothing else it keeps
reduced silo stocks and taking grain in during the surface dust to a minimum and The modular machines can be brought up
the night, for very obvious economic and keeps cleaning costs in check. one section at a time … much easier.
environmental reasons. And so to the flour mills proper. The other distinct advantage of grouping
So we have a reduced screenroom, with say, ten sections onto one machine, is that
a more significant role being played by colour Shrinking the mill’s footprint the mill footprint shrinks dramatically and the
sorters, which can now achieve acceptable I have mentioned the use of modu- use of relifts is much reduced.
capacity at reasonable prices. lar sifters by Buhler and these really are The use of gravity spouting is enhanced
and consequently overall pneumatic power
Scourers seem to be gaining more rec- an innovative approach to mill machinery
ognition, probably in light of the rise of design. Whilst the machines may take a consumption is reduced.
mycotoxin levels and the belief that scour- little more time and effort to assemble on There is also a greater choice for the mill
ing will assist with removal of outer bran site they can be installed in areas which designer to introduce flexibility into the flow
layers. Most water soluble mycotoxins are were previously inaccessible with the larger diagram since gravity fall options for stock
however, penetrative and can be found in sectioned machines where the complete destinations are far wider when individual
high levels as far into the grain as the waxy drive frame came in welded form and con- sifter sections are closer together.
testa layer, but I believe scourers can assist sequently space had to be found to get the Regarding other machines in the mill;
with milling, simply by removing much that machine up through the mill. we are now seeing the next generation of
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Grain &feed millinG technoloGy PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE may-June 2009 | 39

Image courtesy of Buhler (www.buhlergroup.com)
purifier coming to the market, again with
Buhler leading the way currently with their
new offering the Polaris machine.
Clean lines, sensible access, self contained
and technically effective the new machine will
find favour in many mills around the world.
The Italians have their machines, which
have several of the same features, and Satake
are looking at their options with a view
to introducing a new machine shortly. All
purification machines now are of one integral
design and the days of a separate frame and
sieve boat deck have now passed.
Milling engineers are coming
Whilst not readily accepted yet in the
UK and mainland Europe is the advent of a
plethora of milling engineers onto the capital
equipment scene from Eastern Europe, India
and the Far East. Almost all of these milling
engineers are capable of producing a mill
that meets the standards of engineering and
safety required in Europe, although they have
yet to master the vagaries of milling much
softer wheats than they have experienced
in the East.
They are, however, capable of offering new
mill builds at much lower prices than we have
seen before and it will not be long before we
see some main stream European millers opting
for a low capital cost mill from the East.
The impact on flour prices has yet to be
seen but could be significant.
Debate on this issue will continue for
quite some time whilst in the meantime the
recognized milling engineers will continue to
develop their product ranges.
Daily check list
Pneumatics systems are always a part of
every mill manager’s daily check list and whilst
there haven’t been any major developments
in fan design, filters have become smaller
and more efficient due to better air to cloth
efficiencies and the use of the automatic self
balancing pneumatic lift valve have helped
minimize stock carry over into the filter.
40 | may-June 2009
Buhler’s Sirius plansifter
Using dedicated fans for purifiers and for
pneumatic exhaust has once again been rec-
ognized as the most cost effective arrange-
ment and the use of combination filters,
which were always a compromise have
also passed, except in mills where capac-
ity dictates this is still the best option; usu-
ally towards the smaller end of the capacity
ranges.
Developments of the bran finisher by
Satake have led to the introduction of
the inclined machine, which can be angled
according to stock conditions and capacity
required. This is an innovative concept and
one, which I believe, will be rolled out more
widely in the concept of other machines as
time and development costs allow.
Impact detachers, drum detachers and
other disruptive devices remain unchanged
and these are freely used throughout most
mills. Positioning of blowers in separate
rooms is now common place as we seek to
reduce noise levels in the mills.
Mill control and staff training
Mill control systems have come a long
way from the early days of punch cards
being using for grist control. We now see
the use of systems such as Wincos (Buhler)
and other systems bespoke to their own
design houses. Buhler have perfected the
art of tying their maintenance program
to the mill operating system and asset
management and operating time based
maintenance work card generation systems
are now very easy to work with and familiar
to anyone who has worked for only brief
periods with Buhler equipment.
No doubt we shall see these systems
develop further, but probably more from a
raw material and flour quality control stand
point rather than as a tool to minimize
labour at the mill.
It is becoming recognized now that
labour is a flexible asset & a good miller is
worth investing in.
Training programs are coming under the
spotlight and the value of milling schools is
PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE
Trends Feature
once more being appreciated. The NABIM
correspondence course remains the main-
stay of technical education for many around
the world and it is also looking to become
more practical in its application.
I have long been an advocate of
training for I believe that if millers spend
money on equipment they need to have
it operating at its maximum potential and
this can only be done if those who oper-
ate such equipment understand the prin-
ciples of what they are doing. We are also
seeing a trend towards millers spending
money on training to optimize mill output
rather than simply buying new and larger
capacity machinery.
A final observation
As a final observation we are seeing several
millers diversifying into specialist milling, wheth-
er it be wholemeal flours, organic, ancient
grains or simply just another type of flour blend
which they have not milled or made before.
Invariably this has been done with used
equipment but there are a group of small
scale milling engineering companies emerging
who are capable of providing “mini” mills as
I would term them, often very simple and
occasionally quite crudely built.
These mills suit the farmer who is seeking
to add value to his crop before it leaves the
farm gate and they are also quite adequate
for the food processor who wishes to pro-
duce flour or meal on a small scale by buying
the raw material direct from the farmer or
grain merchant.
I doubt whether these engineers will impact
greatly upon the industry in general, for there
is room for everyone to operate but they do
enhance the image of the flour milling industry
to the general public and if, in so doing, they
promote the use of flour and encourage the
general public to consume more cereal prod-
ucts then we should not complain.
In the early 1900s there were a little
short of 900 mills operating in the UK,
today there are fewer than 100, technol-
ogy has moved on at quite a pace and
commercial interests have taken full advan-
tage of technological advances. Those
commercial interests have seen a rapid
decline in the industry in terms of industry
participants in the UK and the rest of the
world is now going through a distinctly
contracting phase.
Education of operatives and managers is
important and so is the contribution which
the main engineers are making to advanced
machinery design. I thank those engineers
who have the foresight to look to the future,
the courage to invest in the industry and
its equipment and the ability to supply the
millers of the world with the key to their
future success.
Grain &feed millinG technoloGy
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