JP2004216927A - Marine transportation method for soybean - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the deterioration of the quality of soybeans by an inexpensive method when shipping the soybeans and passing the soybeans through a high temperature region. <P>SOLUTION: The soybeans are dried by cold air within a silo 1 before shipment to lower water contents of the soybeans. The temperature of cold air may be set by considering kinds of the soybeans, an outside air temperature and humidity, etc., at a temperature lower than a normal temperature within a range of 17 to 5°C, for instance. It is better to use cold air of 15 to 10°C to reduce damage to be imparted to physiological tissues of the soybeans. Because the water contents of the soybeans are generally about 13%, quality holding effects of the soybeans are obtained only if the soybeans are dried by cold air up to about 11% of the water contents. But when the soybeans are marine-transported across tropical regions in the vicinity of the equator, it is desirable that the soybeans are dried by cold air till the water contents of the soybeans become ≤10%. The soybeans dried by cold air are hardly lowered in quality even if the soybeans are marine-transported across the tropical regions in the vicinity of the equator. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for transporting soybeans by sea by loading soybeans by sea.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the Japanese diet, soybeans are consumed in large quantities as a raw material for tofu, natto, miso, soy sauce, salad oil, etc., so domestic soybeans alone cannot cover Japan's soybean consumption and have to rely on foreign imports. Not get. When soybeans are imported from a foreign country, marine transportation with low transportation costs is used as described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-285495).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-7-285495
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In recent years, soybean importers are shifting from the continent of North America (the United States, Canada, etc.) to the cheaper South American continents (Brazil, Argentina, etc.). However, when soybeans produced on the continent of South America are transported by sea to Japan, they must pass through tropical areas near the equator of the earth. When exposed to a steamy state, the oxidation of fat in soybeans proceeds, and the quality of soybeans deteriorates considerably. For this reason, the fact is that soybeans imported from South America to Japan can at best be used only as a raw material for salad oil.
[0005]
In order to solve such problems, it is conceivable to provide refrigeration equipment on board and transport soybeans while refrigerated soybeans. It is not profitable for low-priced products.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a soybean marine product that can prevent soybean quality deterioration by an inexpensive method when shipping soybeans by sea and transporting them through high-temperature areas. To provide a transportation method.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the method for sea transportation of soybeans of the present invention is to dry soybeans with cold air before loading to reduce the water content of soybeans, and then to ship these soybeans for sea transportation. It was done. Drying the soybeans with cold air before loading can reduce the water content without reducing the quality of the soybeans. If such cold-air dried soybeans are loaded and transported by sea, the oxidation of soybean fat can be reduced even if the soybeans on the ship are exposed to a high-temperature environment for a long time when passing through high-temperature regions such as tropical regions near the equator. Slowly, the quality of soybeans hardly declines. Therefore, by using the soybean marine transportation method of the present invention, soybeans loaded from South America can be imported with almost no deterioration in quality, and soybeans imported from South America can be tofu, like domestic soybeans. It can be widely used as a raw material for processed soybean foods such as natto, miso, soy sauce, salad oil and sprouts seeds.
[0008]
In general, since the water content of soybean is about 13%, the effect of maintaining the quality of soybean by cold-air drying can be obtained only by soybean drying with cold air to a water content of about 11%. When transporting by sea through a high-temperature area such as that described above, it is preferable to dry with cold air until the moisture content of soybeans becomes 10% or less before loading. Drying to this extent can prevent degradation of soybean quality (oxidation of fat) and maintain the vitality of soybean, even if soybean is exposed to the high temperature environment in the tropical area near the equator for a long time. It is possible to germinate soybeans and it can be used as sprouts seeds.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a method for transporting soybeans from the South American continent by sea will be described below.
Before loading soybeans produced on the continent of South America, the soybeans are stored in a silo 1 shown in FIG.
[0010]
Here, the configuration of the silo 1 will be described. The silo 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape, the bottom surface is formed in a tapered shape, and a lid 3 is detachably attached to a discharge port 2 formed at the lowermost portion. A large number of exhaust holes 4 having a diameter smaller than the diameter of soybean are formed in almost the entire area of the peripheral wall of the silo 1. A blower tube 5 is attached to the center of the silo 1 so as to penetrate in the vertical direction, and a large number of blowout holes 6 having a diameter smaller than the diameter of soybean are formed in almost the entire area of the blower tube 5. . The lower end of the blower tube 5 is closed by a lid 7, and is fixed to the bottom surface of the silo 1. The upper end of the blower tube 5 is penetrated and fixed to the upper lid 8 of the silo 1, and the upper end of the blower tube 5 is connected to the cool air outlet of the cool air blower 10 via the connection pipe 9. The cool air blowing device 10 includes a cooling device that cools air to a temperature lower than room temperature (for example, 17 to 5 ° C., preferably 15 to 10 ° C.), and a fan device that blows cool air generated by the cooling device. I have. Further, in order to enhance the performance of the cool air drying, a dehumidifying function for reducing the humidity of the cool air may be mounted on the cool air blowing device 10. The upper lid 8 of the silo 1 is provided with a chute 11 for putting soybeans into the silo 1.
[0011]
When the soybeans are dried with cold air using the silo 1 configured as described above, first, the soybeans are put into the silo 1 from the chute 11. As a result, the soybeans are accommodated in the silo 1 so as to surround the blower tube 5. Thereafter, the cool air blowing device 10 is operated to blow cool air having a temperature lower than room temperature to the blower tube 5 at the center of the silo 1. As a result, the cool air is blown out toward the soybeans in the silo 1 from the many blowout holes 6 of the blower tube 5, passes through the gaps between the soybeans in the silo 1, and exits from the many exhaust holes 4 on the peripheral wall of the silo 1. Is discharged. In this way, while the cool air passes through the gap between the soybeans in the silo 1, the cool air deprives the soybean of moisture and dries the soybean.
[0012]
In this case, the temperature of the cold air may be lower than the normal temperature, and may be set in the range of 17 to 5 ° C. in consideration of the variety of soybean, the outside temperature, the humidity, and the like. In order to further reduce the damage to the surface, it is preferable to use cold air at 15 to 10 ° C.
[0013]
In general, since the water content of soybean is about 13%, the effect of maintaining the quality of soybean by cold-air drying can be obtained by simply drying the soybean with cold air to a water content of about 11%. When transported by sea through a high temperature area, it is preferable to dry with cold air until the water content of soybeans becomes 10% or less.
[0014]
As described above, when loading soybeans that have been dried with cold air in the silo 1, the lid 3 at the bottom of the silo 1 is removed and the outlet 2 is opened, soybeans in the silo 1 naturally flow out of the outlet 2. I do. The soy is packed in a bag or packed in a container, loaded, and then transported by sea across the equator to Japan. It is not necessary to cool the soybeans during this marine transportation, and the soybeans may be transported by marine transportation in the same manner as before.
[0015]
In this way, when soybeans produced on the South American continent are transported by sea to Japan, soybeans on the ship are exposed to the high-temperature environment for a long time when passing through tropical areas near the equator. Since the soybeans are dried, even if the soybeans are exposed to a high temperature environment for a long time, the oxidation of the fats of the soybeans does not proceed, and the quality of the soybeans hardly deteriorates. This allows soybeans shipped from the South American continent to be imported with little deterioration in quality, and soybeans imported from the South American continent can be processed into soybeans such as tofu, natto, miso, soy sauce, and salad oil in the same manner as domestic soybeans. It can be widely used as a raw material for food or as a seed for sprouts.
[0016]
The silo 1 shown in FIG. 1 is configured such that cold air is radially blown out from a blower tube 5 at a central portion of the silo 1 toward the outer periphery to dry soybeans with cold air. The soybeans may be dried with cold air by flowing cool air from above to the upper side (or the opposite side), or the soybeans may be cooled with a cool air drying device other than a silo.
[0017]
In addition, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the method of sea transportation of soybeans from South America, but the present invention can be applied to sea transportation of soybeans from other regions. When soybeans are transported by sea from Okinawa to Okinawa, the present invention can surely prevent deterioration in the quality of soybeans.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a silo used in an embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... silo, 2 ... outlet, 4 ... exhaust hole, 5 ... blower tube, 6 ... blowout hole, 10 ... cold air blower, 11 ... chute.

Claims (2)

In the method of shipping soybeans and transporting them by sea,
A method for transporting soybeans by sea, characterized in that the soybeans are dried by cold air before loading to reduce the moisture content of the soybeans, and then loaded with the soybeans and transported by sea. The method for transporting soybeans by sea according to claim 1, wherein the soybeans are dried with cold air until the moisture content of the soybeans becomes 10% or less before shipping.

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