GB1164044A - Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for the Removal of the Seed Coat from Cereal Grains - Google Patents

Abstract

1,164,044. Apparatus for removing bran from cereal grains. FOOD ENG. INTERNATIONAL Inc. 5 Dec., 1967 [3 Aug., 1967], No. 55374/67. Heading A2Q. [Also in Division C5] A mill, Figs. 2 and 3, for removing bran layers (seed-coats) from cereal grains, such as rice, wheat, oats, barley, rye, millet and sorghum grains, in the presence of a liquid, comprises a hollow rotor 12 secured to a motor-driven, rotatable shaft 13; a grainretaining screen 10, e.g. made of perforated metal, wire-mesh or cloth, surrounding the rotor and spaced from it by an annular space constituting a milling chamber 25; a substantially cylindrical casing 3 surrounding the screen 10 and spaced from it to form a conduit 11 for receiving detached bran particles (which have passed through the screen 10) and discharging them, together with associated liquid, through an outlet 35; a shoot 20 from which gains are fed, e.g. with the cooperation of a conveying screw 17 secured to the shaft 13, into the chamber 25; an outlet 21, e.g. controlled by a hinged, weight-loaded plate 22 (which also controls the pressure exerted on grains in the chamber 25) for discharging cleaned grains, together with associated liquid, into a shoot 70; and conduit means e.g. an axial bore 46 through the shaft 13 leading into one or more radial bores 47 and one or more openings 51, 52 in the shell of the rotor 12 for feeding liquid into the chamber 25. Liquid may be fed into the conduit 11 through pipes 40 and 41. The liquid may be a solvent for the oils and fats in the grains, e.g. an organic solvent or mixture of solvents selected from: n-hexane, n-heptane, ethylene dichloride, ethylene trichloride, alcohols such as isopropanol, and ethers and ether derivatives, such as ethyl ether and dichloro-diethyl ether. The liquid may be a softening liquid selected from : edible vegetable oils, refined non-toxic mineral oils, propylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, fatty acid esters of glycerol, sorbitol and polypropylene glycol, aqueous soaps of higher fatty acids, aqueous solutions of alklies and alkaline salts, such as the hydroxides and carbonates of ammonium, sodium and potassium, aqueous solutions of neutral salts of ammonia, sodium and potassium, and aqueous acids, such as hydrochloric, phosphoric and sulphuric acids. A vegetable oil derived from grains of the kind being cleaned is preferred as a softening liquid. The liquid may be a solution (miscella) of a vegetable oil in an organic solvent. A solution of rice oil in hexane is suitable for cleaning and extracting rice oil from rice grains. Solvent liquid may be separated from the discharged clean grains and bran particles, and vegetable oil may be wholly or partly recovered from the separated liquid, which may then be fed back into the mill U.K. Specifications 1,066,946 and 1,066,947 are referred to.