Digital Re-print - March | April 2010

Feature title: Regulating granularity

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Regulating granularity
by Jonathan Bradshaw
It has often been said that flour milling has more in common with the paint industry than it does
with the food industry. Whilst paint manufacturers and millers alike resent this comparison as a
slur on their skills, the proponents of this statement simply refer to the fact that flour milling is
mainly a size reduction exercise where we seek to judiciously reduce a grain of wheat to its finer
components and separate out the bran. Rather like reducing pigments down to fine powder and
removing impurities and extraneous matter too large to be of any value in the paint industry.
T
his being said, let us look at the
ramifications of the task that
faces the miller in reducing and,
perhaps more importantly, control-
ling granularity of products throughout
the mill, rather than just controlling the
granularity of the end product.
First, let us consider the role which moisture
plays in the process.
Essentially there to hold bran particles
together when wheat passes through fluted
break rolls, the moisture enables the miller to set
his rollermills to scrape endosperm away from
the bran layers and allow him to then present a
coarse granule to the head reduction passages
via the purifiers and the middlings system, always
assuming the miller decides to incorporate puri-
fiers in the flow.
Roll fluting
The choice of fluting is all important to the
control of granularity and the flute pattern and
profile, spiral and disposition all play an impor-
tant part in preparing the semolinas for further
grinding and grading when they leave the break
system.
In semolina mills, we know now that the
number of facets we can cut on a granule of
semolina greatly influences the light reflectance
and hence the colour of the resultant pasta.
Rather like the number of facets that can be
ground on a diamond influences the sparkle by
reflecting the light which is shone upon it.
14 | march - april 2010
Much work has been done on roll fluting
and the effects that different flute forms have
upon granularity and release of semolina from
the whole grain.
In the 1970s Henry Simon’s technical millers
put together a set of roll flutes which are now
almost universal in their use, albeit the spiral,
speed and disposition of these may vary from
engineer to engineer with each having their own
favoured forms dependent on the diagramme
being adopted and the cereal being ground,
hard, soft, durum, rye, maize, etc.
The various profiles define the lead in angle
and the fall away angle with a fixed amount
to land allow the engineer to fully describe
the parameters of the cutting surfaces without
having to list them each time when re-fluting
a roll chill.
The number of roll passages in the break
and reduction system varies from mill to mill and
the number of rollermills per passage also varies
from mill to mill.
The use of flake disrupters has reduced the
number of reduction rolls used since prior to
their use flakes generated through heavy grinding
were simply scalped off and lost to the coarse
reduction system.
Since their introduction in the late 1960s
and early 1970s, initially using entoleters, roll
numbers have decreased dramatically.
Heavier grinding has become common place
and because the concentration of grinding is
confined to just the area immediately around
the roll chills the whole frame of the machine,
Granularity Feature Feature Granularity
Cross-Yoke-Plansifter
Flexible, high-performance, compact, self-balanced
to spend any concentrated length of time in the which can be used
mill setting rolls and examining mill samples. in even the tight-
Milling skills are hard to come by these days est of areas and
but those who have the opportunity to learn the newer range of
from the older generation will have a skill that three deck purifier
will last. with infinitely vari-
able angled deck
Fewer machines – same output the mill of today
As the rollermill has advanced in use and can be fitted into
technology it has led to fewer machines being a relatively small
used for the same or greater output. So too space than in our
have the sifter and the purifier moved along and forefather’s days. Two Cross-Yoke Plansifters in a wheat/rye mill
been matched to enhanced throughput. with a capacity of 40/25 t/d
Had this not been the case we would have Control
seen disproportionate machine balance and granularity
Areas of application
some rather top-heavy buildings. The drawer To be in a posi-
Wheat Flour Mills · Rice Mills · Rice bran
type plansifter took the place of the centrifugal tion, however, to sieving · Petfood · Aquafeed · Pellets
reel and it has subsequently been replaced by control granularity
the square sieve plansifter which has grown from in the mill properly, Over 450 installed worldwide
four sections initially of 16 sieves to anywhere we cannot simply Reinhard Rüter
Maschinenbau e.Kfm.
up to 12 sections of 30 sieves and capable of look at the infeed An der Kapelle 27
matching the throughput and efficiency of any of and outfeed from 32479 Hille · Germany
the rolls available today. any one individual Tel. +49 (0) 57 03 - 5 20 29-0
Fax +49 (0) 57 03 - 5 20 29-29
The rollermill has seen the superimposed machine. Ruetermaschinen@t-online.de
machine come into use on certain passages The break roll cross-yoke-plansifter.com MASCHINEN
irrespective of manufacturer, is lighter and with and, in combination with the modular sifter passages prepare
much more simplified feed gate arrangements.
Hence the cost of manufacture has come
New from Hydronix
down proportionately and we see rollermills
being offered to the millers at very economical
prices.
Assessing the grind The Hydro-Mix VII Moisture Sensor
I recall when first starting out doing my mill
practice I had the job of assessing the grind at
each rollermill and adjusting it in line with the
instruction of the mill manager, who, using his
experience knew what was best for his mill
and how the rolls should be set to obtain
the most effective extraction at the best flour
colour.
He spent time with me going round the rolls
and showing me the correct way to set rolls for
an effective grind.
Sadly, today there are few vacancies for mill-
ing apprentices and the age of millers is rapidly The new Hydro-Mix VII provides accurate and cost effective moisture
advancing. We are not very likely to have mill control in feed meals and pellets, grain, cereal and pulses:
managers with sufficient time available to spend
• Digital technology with precise linear output for easy integration
with new starters in the industry, despite this
• Wide moisture measurement range
probably being a very effective strategy for main-
• Suitable for chutes, silos, mixers or conveyors
taining mill balance and affecting quality control
• Choice of 3 measurement modes
in months and years to come.
We now look to the milling schools to pro-
• Not affected by dust or colour
vide our future millers and I am in some doubt • Temperature stable
whether the mill manager of today actually
spends enough time in his mill to allow him the
depth of knowledge of his facility that he should enquiries@hydronix.com
have. Invariably tied up with bureaucracy and
paperwork he or she rarely get the opportunity www.hydronix.com
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Image courtesy of Buhler
stock for the sifters to separate effectively into
component parts, always ensuring total com-
bined release is adequate to enable targeted
extraction rates to be met. Middlings sifters
should be clad to extract flour as early as pos-
sible in the flow when milling soft wheats but
should enable head reduction grinding to be
optimized in hard wheat mills in order to obtain
optimum starch damage and water absorption.
Purifiers are there to improve the feed to
the reduction rolls and can, and should, have the
greatest influence on granularity in a mill, espe-
cially semolina mills where it is the purifier that
is the final arbiter of finished products, coarse,
medium and fine.
Head reduction rolls are where the bulk of
the grinding is done and where water absorp-
tion and starch damage are influenced to the
greatest degree, but it is of no value if a wide
range of particle sizes are presented to an indi-
vidual passage, in fact, it can ruin a mill’s output
if too wide a range is offered as only the coarse
fraction will be reduced down further and the
finer particles of semolina may pass between the
roll chills untouched.
The miller needs to present as fine and
narrow a particle range to all rollermills but
especially to the head reduction passages.
Feed gates
Similarly, the presentation of an even feed
across the width of the roll is vital.
At one time when feed gates were made
up of several parts that supposedly spread the
feed across the nip it was often common to
see feeds running through just the centre of
the rolls with large gaps across the width of the
roll. This was obviously inefficient but reflected
the cautious attitude that mill operatives had to
their rollermills and they would open feed gates
more than necessary in order to avoid choke
conditions being created by inherent variances
in feed rate to different rollermills.
With the advancements made in feed gate
design and the use of variable speed feed rolls
and level sensors that automatically instigate
increases and decreases in feed roll speed this
situation is now almost totally avoided and we
see excellently spread feeds across the feed rolls.
Where mixed grists are milled and a wide
16 | march - april 2010
range of flour are produced there are still several
mills who utilise one or two sizings passages in
their flow.
Originally brought into use in Australia as the
‘sizings and protein shift’ diagram, the use of siz-
ing rolls was meant to influence the distribution
of protein within the mill. This sizings system
became more widely used to control and influ-
ence the particle size distribution patterns to the
head reduction rolls in European mills when the
use of purifiers lost favour in diagrams, partly as
a response to the perceived benefit of shorter
flow diagrams and the ability of rollermills to
handle much heavier loadings whilst purifier
throughputs remained relatively low.
Now the balance of capacity has been
restored in mill design we no longer see roller
floors larger than sifter floors, nor the top and
bottom floors jammed with peripheral equip-
ment, and the aesthetic appearance of mills is
much improved.
The major engineers, especially Buhler have
now been able to turn their attention to the
mill flow and diagrammes once again are being
considered carefully.
The fact that Buhler regularly build complete
new mills, much more frequently than most of
the other engineers puts them in the fortunate
position of being able to evaluate changes in
flow sheet design in many areas of the world
and then build their knowledge based on the
results of mill surveys.
Power consumptions can be evaluated and
changes made to flows in subsequent mill proj-
ects for example and the very fact that so many
mills are built that handle such a wide variety
of wheat enables a depth of information to be
gathered and utilized and improved upon from
project to project. This is just one example of
the benefits of having a full and busy order book
with suitably trained millers in the field.
Optimising machine design
Another advantage of frequent orders is
that individual machine design can be optimised
and the Antares rollermill is a classic example
with many new innovative features, the feed
gate arrangement being an obvious one being a
simplified refinement from previous versions of
standard issue rollermills.
Granularity Feature
The revised and upgraded range of purifiers
and sifters are also products of extensive field
trials and all are offered with a view to being
able to control granularity effectively throughout
the mill which subsequently enables machines
to be set most effectively in order to match
customer’s finished product specifications.
Attention has been paid by all engineers to
such items as roll cleaning mechanisms, purifier
brushes, feed gates, ball cleaners and sifter clean-
ing devices.
Without these operating correctly and effi-
ciently much is lost in terms of machine setting
control and the regularity of settings is lost.
In rollermills where auto key pad adjust-
ment is provided and where the ability to
recall previous settings is available, history has
shown that such setting storage has not been
as reliable as it could be, principally because of
poor cleaner operation and variable springs
and air pressure support, often brought about
by climatic changes, humidity variance from
night to day, etc.
Fortunately, these items have been over-
come by attention to detail and the use of cen-
tralized control of the mill can now also be used
as an aid to controlling and regulating granularity.
The changes in mill control and the auto-
matic engagement and disengagement of roller-
mills as feed rates vary has been quite rapid and
developments seem to have been perfected
quickly. What we can expect in years to come
remains to be seen but I hope it reflects practical
experience rather than simply engineers trying
out new processes that have no relevance to
milling.
The daily walk-around
Controlling granularity within the mill and
maintaining mill balance is crucial to minimizing
power consumption in the mill and optimising
finished products physically as well as maintaining
starch damage, water absorption, etc.
That walk round every day is still one of
the most valuable tools a miller has at his
disposal and is an excellent tool to have.
After all, we wouldn’t buy a new car and not
observe how it operates so we shouldn’t buy
a new mill and not pay careful attention to
how it operates.
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