Feedstock

1.1 Rye
Rye (Secale cereal L.), compared to other cereals suited for biofuel production, has the lowest
requirements considering climate and soil. Rye manages to grow even at low nutrient supply and low
temperatures during the winter which makes it suitable for climates that dominates northern
Germany[1].

According to the Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz the

harvest amount of rye in 2013 has been the highest in over ten years with a total amount of
4,59 million t. Since less than 1 million t of rye is needed as foodstuff, a high quantity is available for
other purposes[2].

1.2 Composition
The production of bioethanol from cereal grains requires high starch content. Besides wheat and
barley, rye also fulfills this demand. Although the composition of the rye grain may vary according to
genotype and harvest year, an overall starch content of 58,0 – 64,6 % (w/w dry mass) can be found.
Table 1 gives a general overview of some of the major components.

Tabelle 1: Composition of rye grain

[% DM] Starch Protein Lipids Fiber Ash Sugars

Kaltschmitt[1] 64,6 11,3 1,8 2,8 2,0 6,3
Hansen[3] 58,0 – 61,5 8,4 – 10,8 n.d. n.d. 1,9 – 2,0 n.d.

Starch is composed of two polysaccharides: amylose and amylopectin. While amylose consists of
linear arranged glucose molecules which are bound by α-1,4-glucosidic bonds, amylopectin is formed
by α-1,6-glucosidic bonds which lead to branching of the macromolecule. Different enzymes are
needed to decompose the macromolecule into the elementary building blocks which will be needed
for further processing[4].

Another crucial compound of grains in general is the water content. The water content determines
the probability of contamination with bacteria and fungi and thus appropriates the required storage
facilities. Cereals are mostly harvested at a moisture content of 13 – 14 % and are suitable for
storage at 16 %. Unless the grain is unintentionally moisturized it is directly storable after the
harvest[1].
Storage and conveying

2.1 Storage
Different hazards have to be avoided during the storage of cereal grains. One main hazard is the
internal biochemical reactions which lead to loss of biomass. Due to the presence of enzymes inside
the grain it is prone to decomposition at high moisture contents. Another source of danger is the
contamination by bacteria or fungi which can also be avoided by low water content. An incursion of
rodents has also to be taken into account while storing cereals. Storage solution have to be designed
which denies the accessibility to birds, mice and rats[1].

Due to the continuous process a constant flow of the feedstock has to be provided. To avoid any
hold-up at the storage units discharge systems have to be applied to the storage tanks. Depending on
particle size and properties different applications can be chosen. For the distribution of cereal grains
funnel ramps are suitable[5].

A weekly delivery of the feedstock has been scheduled to decrease the storage capacity and thus the
investment cost of storage units. To ensure a feedstock flow of 96 t/h rye grain a total storage
capacity of 20.000 t with two 10.000 t tanks has to be realized.

2.2 Conveying
To provide the consecutive unit – milling – with the feedstock conveying systems have to be
installed. Conveying systems can be classified into two categories: pneumatic and mechanical.
Pneumatic conveying applies air streams as transport medium to carry the transported material
while mechanical conveyors carries the material through contact.

Standard conveying belts have relatively low energy consumption and are applicable for all kinds of
bulk materials. Thus this mechanical conveyor should be combined with the storage units to enable a
continuous operation of the process.
Dry milling
Cereal Grain kernels are protected from biological, chemical, biochemical and physical forces by
robust outer layers. Milling units are applied to break the stable husk of the rye kernel to make the
starch more accessible for the further enzyme processing. Also with increasing surface area the
accessible area increases thus improving the enzymatic digestion.

Other than the wet milling process, where the grain is pretreated with water and chemicals to
weaken the outer hull before the actual milling, dry milling only applies physical forces to the grain
particle.

Three different types of single grain stress can be distinguished:

 Stress caused by tools

 Stress caused by impact with another particle or surface
 Stress caused by surrounding medium

Also two types of particle collective stress can be differentiated:

 Stress between two surfaces

 Stress caused by impacts and percussions of the collective

During the dry milling the particles are exposed to different kinds of stress depending on the type of
mill which is used. This section is based on Stieß[6] and Schubert[7].
3.1 Types of mills
Roller mill
The Material is ground due to the stress applied by both
rollers. Small particle sizes can be achieved with this mill
which is typically used for flour production. The energy
demand is accordingly high.

Pin disc mill

This mill consists of two discs with fixed pins. While one disc
is stationary the other disc rotates during the milling thus
causing stress by impact of a particle on a pin or by sheer
force when the particle is caught between two pins.

Hammer mill
The hammer mill is composed of a rotor with fixed steel
tools (the hammers) which cause stress upon impact with a
particle. This mill is the most common choice for the
mechanical pretreatment of crops used for bioethanol.

Abbildung 1: Different types of mills[6]

3.2 Energy demand

There are different models for the energy demand calculation of size reductions for commercial-scale
units. One of which is the relation suggested by Bond:

W m =c Bond
( 1
−
1
√ d F ,80 √d C , 80 )
d C , 80: diameter of 80 % of coarse particles

d F , 80: diameter of 80 % of fine particles

Whereas W m is the mass specific work needed to reduce the size from d C , 80 to d F , 80. c Bond is a
substrate and mill type dependent constant which has to be determined experimentally.
Walde et al. conducted grinding experiments with microwave heated wheat grains and determined
the Bond work index W i experimentally. The following adjustments to the relation have been
made[8]:

W m =0,3162∙ W i
(√ 1
−
1
d F ,80 √ d C ,80 )
With

kWh
W i =1,86
kg

W i has been determined at a moisture content of 10 %

For the calculation of the mass specific energy demand, following assumptions have to be made:

 The milling process does not differ from the chosen milling process in this project
 Particles are assumed to be uniform for the calculation
 Rye grain and wheat grain have similar breakage behavior
 The moisture content of the grain is the same as the studied samples
 For coarse rye grain particle the diameter of equivolumetric sphere has been assumed[9]

Richter et al. studied the effectiveness of the enzymatic hydrolysation of starch depending on the
particle diameter after the mechanical pretreatment. Particles which have been ground to 3  mm
achieved the highest conversion rate of starch to glucose[10].

With all these information the mass specific energy demand can be calculated:

W m =0,3162 √ mm ∙ 1,86
kWh
kg ( √31mm − √ 4,31mm )=55,94 kWht
This results in a yearly demand of:

kWh t
W m ∙ ṁfeedstock ∙t a=55,94 ∙ 96 ∙ 7800h=41888 MWh
t h

A higher value has to be taken into account due to a possibly higher moisture content of the rye
grain.
3.3 Design
Since only a minor size reduction is needed the pin disc mill and the hammer mill would both be
appropriate choices. The hammer mill is more commonly used for the milling of biofuel feedstock
which would imply a higher expertise of the mill manufacturers on that field of application. Hence
the hammer mill has been chosen for the mechanical pretreatment.

A milling unit with three hammer-mills with a throughput of 50 t/h each has been considered. A total
feedstock steam of 96 t/h has to be processed to ensure the continuous process. Thus two mills need
to be constantly operative. Due to maintenance requirements and also as a fail-safe a third mill is
proposed. Thereby the operation can be alternated which would also preserve the wear of the
apparatus material.

Further storage tanks has been planned to collect the rye grit after the milling. These intermediate
storages enable a decoupling of the milling process from the following steps. The grain could be
milled in advance to prevent hold-up due to machine failure or delivery bottleneck. The storage
capacity should be the same as the feedstock storage and also needs to be applied with discharge
and conveyor systems.
References

[1] Kaltschmitt, M., Hartmann, H. and Hofbauer, H. (2009): Energie aus Biomasse. Grundlagen,
Techniken und Verfahren. Springer-Verlag. s.l.
[2] BUNDESMINISTERIUM FÜR ERNÄHRUNG, LANDWIRTSCHAFT UND VERBRAUCHERSCHUTZ (2013): Ernte 2013:
Mengen und Preise. http://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/Landwirtschaft/Markt-
Statistik/Ernte2013_Bericht+Anlagen.html.
[3] HANSEN, H.B., MØLLER, B., ANDERSEN, S.B., JØRGENSEN, J.R. AND HANSEN, Å. (2004): Grain
Characteristics, Chemical Composition, and Functional Properties of Rye ( Secale cereale L.) As
Influenced by Genotype and Harvest Year. J. Agric. Food Chem. 52, 2282–2291.
[4] Bajpai, P.: Advances in bioethanol.
[5] Pahl, M.H., Ernst, R. and Wilms, H. (1993): Lagern, Fördern und Dosieren von Schüttgütern.
Fachbuchverl.; Verl. TÜV Rheinland. Leipzig, Köln, Köln.
[6] Stiess, M. (1990-): Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik. Springer. Berlin.
[7] Schubert, H. (2003): Handbuch der mechanischen Verfahrenstechnik. Wiley-VCH. Weinheim.
[8] WALDE, S., BALASWAMY, K., VELU, V. AND RAO, D. (2002): Microwave drying and grinding
characteristics of wheat (Triticum aestivum). Journal of Food Engineering, 271–276.
[9] SCHERER, R. AND KUTZBACH, H.D. (1978): Mechanische Eigenschaften von Körnerfrüchten. Grundl.
Landtechnik.
[10] RICHTER, K. AND BERTHOLD, C. (1998): Biotechnological Conversion of Sugar and Starchy Crops into
Lactic Acid. J. Agric. Food Chem., 181–191.