RICE DRYING
Introduction
Moisture Content
Harvest: 26% MC or 21% MC
For Milling and Storage: 14% for grains, 12%for seeds
Source: IRRI
Air Requirement
Source: Shedd’s Curve
Air Requirement
- 23” dia. Fan w/ 4” fan - air temperature of
pulley (truck radiator fan) 40−45ºC
- 2.5 hp EM/ 7HP- GE/ 5HP- - 10−15ºC above ambient
DE
- air velocity 0.15−0.25
- 2100 rpm
m/s
- 3000cfm/40 cavan or 75
cfm/cavan (minimum - typical fan power
tolerable ratio) requirements are
- 12%MC-14%MC gradient 1.5−2.5 kW /ton of
- Drying temp= 43.3 deg C paddy
Source: de Padua, 1976 Source: IRRI
Batch type Dryers
Source: IRRI
Batch type Dryers
Source: IRRI
RICE MILLING
ABE 51
CROP PROCESSING 1
✓transformation of a product into a form
suitable for either human or livestock
consumption
✓process of transforming rough rice or palay
into a form suitable for human consumption
with maximum percentage of whole kernel
ANATOMY OF RICE
Mature Paddy (by weight):
▪ 22% of hull
▪ 6 % of bran
▪ 72% of endosperm
Source: Resurreccion and Petingco (2011),
Thus, an ideal milling equipment has a
milling recovery of 72%
❖Milling Recovery = 72% (well-milled)
❖Milling recovery > 72% (under-milled)
❖Milling recovery < 72% (over-milled)
Source: PAES 206:2000
Palay
Foreign
Pre Cleaning
CLEANING Materials /
Impurities
Clean Palay
Hulling
Brown Rice + Husk + Unhulled Palay
Husk Aspiration Husk/Hull
HULLING
Brown Rice + Unhulled Palay
Unhulled
Palay Paddy Separation
Brown Rice
Whitening Bran
WHITENING
Milled/White Rice
Grading Brokens
GRADING Whole/Head Rice
Figure 2. Flow chart of rice milling operation
ABE 51
CROP PROCESSING 1
Hulling
Under-runner disc
▪makes use of two horizontal abrasive stones
▪ upper surface is stationary while the lower
surface rotates
▪differential speed of the two surfaces
contacting the grains shears the grains
▪Clearance adjustment of the stone disc is set to ½
the average length of paddy grain.
Rubber roll
▪two rubber rollers of the same diameter
are operated at different speeds (25%
faster)
▪One roller has a fixed position and the
other is adjustable to meet the desired
clearance
▪Efficiency is 85-90%
Husk Aspiration
❖is the separation of husk (and light
materials) from the brown rice by blowing
air and directing the husk into a cyclone for
final discharge
Paddy Separation
❖separation of unhulled palay from brown
rice after hulling and husk aspiration
❖makes use of the difference in angle of
repose of palay and brown rice
❖unhulled palay is returned to the huller for
hulling and husk aspiration.
Compartment Separator
▪ difference in texture of
grains and nature and
design of the sliding
surface
Tray Separator
▪The tray separator
uses the differences
in specific gravity and
grain length
Separation Principle
Paddy rice has a lower specific gravity, higher buoyancy, and is
physically bigger, longer and wider than brown rice
Whitening
Abrasive
–In this process the grain is whitened
by the abrasive action of the rice
kernel passing between a moving
abrasive surface and stationary
screen.
Vertical abrasion whitener
▪makes use of a stone coated frustrum of a
cone and screen to scrape by abrasion the
bran layer.
Figure 4. Vertical abrasion whitener (Cono type).
Horizontal abrasion whitener
▪makes use of a stone coated horizontal
cylinder and screen to scrape by abrasion the
bran layer
Figure 5. Horizontal abrasion whitener (Satake type).
Friction pearler
▪Grain is rotated by a
steel knife roller against
the screen and friction
between grains and
grains with screen
scrape the bran layer.
Figure 6. Friction pearler whitener.
TYPES OF RICE
MILLING SYSTEM
Rice milling can be undertaken as:
• one step- where the husk and the bran are
removed in one pass (50%)
• two-step process - where the husk and the bran
are removed separately (>60%)
• multistage process- where rice passes through a
number of different operations and machines from
paddy to white rice
Conventional-cono system
• Under-runner disc for dehulling
• 1-3 whitening cones for whitening
• Compartment-type paddy separator
• Capacity: 0.5-8 tons/hour
• Milling recovery: 62-65%
Modern system
• Rubber-roll for dehulling
• Abrasive and friction for whitening
• w/ thickness graders and length grader
• Capacity: 1-10 tons/hour
• Milling recovery: 68%
Milling degree
is the extent by which the bran layer of the
brown rice is removed as a result of
whitening (PAES 206:2000).
The longer the time the brown rice undergo
whitening process, the higher the milling
degree, and the whiter the milled rice
produced.
Milling degree is of the following types (NFA
Standards):
A. Undermilled - all or part of the outer bran
layers but not the inner bran layers have
been removed
B. Regular milled - the lengthwise streaks of
the bran layers may still be present on
more than 10% but not exceeding 30% of
the kernels
C. Well milled - the lengthwise streaks of
the bran layers may still be present on
not more than 10% of the kernels
Other Additional Processes
1.Rice Mixing
◦A good rice mill will produce 50-60% head
rice (whole kernels) 5- 10% large broken and
10-15% small broken kernels.
◦If rice mixing is to be done properly a
volumetric mixer is necessary.
2.Mist Polishing
◦Mixing a fine mist of water with the dust
retained on the whitened rice improves
the luster of the rice
◦A friction type-whitening machine is used
for “final” polishing before sale.
3.Rice Weighing
◦Rice is normally sold as 50kg sacks
which must be accurately weighed and
labeled.
◦While most rice mills use a manual,
mechanical weighing system, very
accurate and fast electronic systems are
also available.
References:
1. Teaching Manual on Rice Milling, Agricultural
Engineering Unit, IRRI
2. Rice Postproduction Technology: A Technical
Reference Guide. Philippines Rice Postproduction
Consortium (PRPC) and Japan Grain Inspection
Association (KOKKEN), 2003.
