BOCALIG, Gerelle M.

III-ABE 1

PROPERTIES OF AB MATERIALS: RICE PROCESSING AND CORN PROCESSING

CORN PROCESSING
Corn, (Zea mays), also called Indian corn or maize, cereal plant of the grass
family (Poaceae) and its edible grain. The domesticated crop originated in the Americas
and is one of the most widely distributed of the world’s food crops. Corn is used as
livestock feed, as human food, as biofuel, and as raw material in industry. Corn was first
domesticated by native peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Modern
corn is believed to have been derived from the Balsas teosinte (Zea mays parviglumis), a
wild grass. Its culture had spread as far north as southern Maine by the time of
European settlement of North America, and Native Americans taught European
colonists to grow the indigenous grains. The corn plant is a tall annual grass with a stout,
erect, solid stem. The large narrow leaves have wavy margins and are spaced alternately
on opposite sides of the stem. Staminate (male) flowers are borne on the tassel
terminating the main axis of the stem.Commercial classifications, based mainly on
kernel texture, include dent corn, flint corn, flour corn, sweet corn, and popcorn. Dent
corn, primarily grown as animal feed and for food manufacturing, is characterized by a
depression in the crown of the kernel caused by unequal drying of the hard and soft
starch making up the kernel.

The physical properties of sweet corn seed were determined as a function of

moisture content in the range of 11.54–19.74% dry basis (d.b.). The average length,
width and thickness were 10.56 mm, 7.91 mm and 3.45 mm, at a moisture content of
11.54% d.b., respectively. In the moisture range from 11.54% to 19.74% d.b., studies on
rewetted sweet corn seed showed that the thousand seed mass increased from 131.2 to
145.5 g, the projected area from 59.72 to 75.57 mm2, the sphericity from 0.615 to
0.635, the true density from 1133.8 to 1225.5 kg m−3, the porosity from 57.48% to
61.30% and the terminal velocity from 5.56 to 5.79 m s−1. The bulk density decreased
from 482.1 to 474.3 kg m−3 with an increase in the moisture content range of 11.54–
19.74% d.b. The static coefficient of friction of sweet corn seed increased the linearly
against surfaces of four structural materials, namely, rubber (0.402–0.494), aluminium
(0.321–0.441), stainless steel (0.267–0.401) and galvanised iron (0.364–0.477) as the
moisture content increased from 11.54% to 19.74% d.b.

There are two distinct processes for corn processing, wet-milling and dry-milling
and each process generates unique co-products

Wet-milling processing roots are designed based in production of pure starch.

Corn wet milling has developed into an industry that seeks optimum use and maximum
value from each constituent of the corn kernel. In addition to starch and the other
various products, as well as the edible corn oil, the industry has become an important
source of well- defined specialized ingredients used in feed formulations. The contents
of the different component streams segregated during starch and oil production are
recombined and processed to yield products serving specific needs of the feed industry.
Production of feed co-products from corn wet-milling begins with the delivery of shelled
corn to the facility. The corn is sampled and quality approved. The corn is off loaded to
elevator bins through a cleaning system. From the elevator, the corn is conveyed to
large tanks called steep tanks where it is soaked for 30-50 hours at 120 - 130°F in a
dilute sulfur dioxide solution. This is a closely controlled process that results in the
softening of the corn kernels. During the soaking, soluble nutrients are absorbed in to
the water. This water is later evaporated to concentrate these nutrients to become
Condensed Corn Fermented Extractives. Continuing with the milling process the corn
germ is removed from the water soaked kernel. The germ is further processed to
recover the oil. The remaining portion of the germ, Corn Germ Meal (wet or dried), is
collected for feed use. After the germ has been removed, the rest of the corn kernel is
screened to remove the bran leaving the starch and gluten protein to pass though the
screens. The bran is combined with other co-product streams to produce Corn Gluten
Feed. This starch and gluten slurry is sent to centrifugal separators, which causes the
lighter gluten protein to float to the top and the heavier starch to the bottom. The
gluten protein is concentrated and dried to form Corn Gluten Meal, a 60% protein feed.
Some of the starch is then washed and dried, or modified and dried and marketed to the
food, paper and textile industries. The remaining starch can be processed into
sweeteners or ethanol.

Dry-milling. Shelled corn arrives at the facility and is accepted through quality
check procedures. The mashing and fermentation of the corn is mechanically simple but
from a chemical and biological process are quite complex. The corn is cleaned of foreign
materials and hammer milled to a medium-coarse to fine grind meal. This corn meal is
then mixed with fresh and recycled waters in known ratios to form a slurry. The pH (5-6
pH) and temperature (180 -195°F) is adjusted and an alpha amylase enzyme is added to
facilitate the hydrolysis of the cornstarch to dextrin (long chain sugars). This process
step is referred to as liquefaction. After complete liquefaction of the starch the mash is
“cooked” to kill unwanted lactic acid producing contaminating bacteria. The mash is
then cooled to 90°F and sent to a fermentation vessel where a glucoamylase enzyme is
added that converts the dextrin into the simple sugar dextrose. Yeast species,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are used to metabolically convert the dextrose in to ethanol
and carbon dioxide. The fermenting mash is referred to as a “beer”. The corn protein
and recycled waters (stillage) provide a major source of nitrogen compounds absorbed
by the yeast microbes. The fats and fiber in the fermenter remain untouched and
concentrate as the starch is converted to ethanol. Fermentation is completed in 40- 60
hours. The beer is then sent to the distillation area to strip away the ethanol. The water
and all solids (protein, fat and fiber) are collected from the distillation base and referred
to as whole stillage. This whole stillage is then centrifuged to separate the coarse solids
from the liquid. The liquid is referred to as thin stillage, which is recycled to the
beginning of the process or concentrated in the evaporator to become Corn Condensed
Distillers Solubles. The coarse solids collected from the centrifuge are called wetcake.
Wetcake and condensed solubles are then combined and dried in a rotary dryer to form
the feed coproduct Corn Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles.

Wet-milling process by-products

 Average Yield Per Bushel

1. Starch - 31.5 lbs
2. Gluten Feed - 12.5 lbs
3. Gluten Meal - 2.5 lbs
4. Corn Oil - 1.6 lbs

Dry-milling process by-products

 Average Yield Per Bushel

1. Ethanol - 2.7 galons
2. Corn Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles - 18 lbs
BOCALIG, Gerelle M.

RICE PROCESSING
Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or less commonly
Oryza glaberrima (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the
genera Zizania and Porteresia, both wild and domesticated, although the term may also
be used for primitive or uncultivated varieties of Oryza. As a cereal grain, domesticated
rice is the most widely consumed staple food for over half of the world's human
population, especially in Asia and Africa. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-
highest worldwide production (rice, 741.5 million metric tons or 817.4 million short tons
in 2014), after sugarcane (1.9 billion metric tons or 2.1 billion short tons) and maize (1.0
billion metric tons or 1.1 billion short tons). Since sizable portions of sugarcane and
maize crops are used for purposes other than human consumption, rice is the most
important food crop with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more
than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. The rice plant can grow
to 1–1.8 m (3–6 ft) tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and soil fertility. It
has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm (20–40 in) long and 2–2.5 cm (3⁄4–1 in) broad. The
small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous
inflorescence 30–50 cm (12–20 in) long. The edible seed is a grain (caryopsis) 5–12 mm
(3⁄16–15⁄32 in) long and 2–3 mm (3⁄32–1⁄8 in) thick.

Physical properties differ with variety, moisture content and degree of milling.
Dimensional classification of rice is best done based on surface area per unit weight or
normalised grain weight.

Other Physical properties of Rice ( Oryza sativa)

 Grain Dimension
 Measurements of rice grain dimensions, percent grain chalkiness, and grain
elongation used to be tedious and slow due to the manual nature of
measurements (e.g., use of calipers to measure grains one at a time) and the
subjective nature of scoring based on visual inspection (i.e., chalkiness).
Recent developments in imaging technologies have enabled more high-
throughput means for measuring physical traits (i.e., grain dimensions and
chalkiness) in raw grains and grain elongation by comparing ratio between
raw versus cooked rice.
 Hardness
 A literature review discusses the importance of hardness of rice cultivars, the
desirable attributes of rice, rice milling, milling and hardness tests, the effects
of storage and drying, and the cause and problems of undesirable chalky
spots on translucent, milled rice kernels. Attention also is focused on rice
grain breakage during processing. Rice hardness is implicated as an
important factor in storage changes and aging, drying and handling, kernel
appearance and translucency, resistance to insects, processing, and milling
 grain breakage. Rice hardness explains some of the factors that govern rice
storage, handling, processing, and use, but low correlations exist between
such factors and rice hardness.
 Density
 Density was nearly constant at 1.452 g/ml in all rice varieties; in paddy, the
value was around 1.182 g/ml for round varieties and around 1.224 g/ml for
others. Bulk density varied appreciably in both rice (0.777–0.847) and paddy
(0.563–0.642 g/ml), and so did porosity (41–46% in rice, 46–54% in paddy).
These were related to the grain shape (l/b ratio); the more round the grain,
the greater was the bulk density and the lower the porosity and vice versa.
Angle of repose was relatively constant in different varieties of rice (average
37.5°) and paddy (average 36.5°).

There are three milling systems used; one-step, two-step and multi-stage milling.
The objective of the rice milling systems is to remove the husk and the bran layer of the
rice kernel, which makes the rice edible and free from impurities. Depending on the
requirements of the customer, the rice should have the minimum number of broken
kernels possible (typically 12–15%).

The steps involved in rice processing are as follows:

1. Cleaning
After harvesting rice, it is transferred to the processing plant where foreign
objects and like stones and tree stumps are removed using Destoner
2. Hulling
Next husk is separated from clean paddy. After the husk is removed, the product
is called brown rice and is ready for the milling process. Paddy graders and paddy
cleaners are used to separate brown rice
3. Milling
This stage removes the bran layer of rice turning brown rice into white rice
4. Polishing
The surface of rice is smoothened and it is given a shine by passing it through a
series of rollers

5. Grading
It is a process in which broken rice is separated out and separating head rice into
different lengths
6. Sorting
Discolored, yellow and immature rice is removed in this stage adding value to
rice
7. Packing
The finished product is then packed and is stored to be delivered to valued
customers.