Production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote

Process of nixtamalized maize flour production, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote characterized in that it comprises the following stages:

• a) Clean the grains (1):
• In this stage, the maize grains pass between magnets, they're then winnowed, consecutively they're vacuumed, subsequently they're destoned, finally a color selection is done so that, afterwards, the clean maize grains are pass to the hydrate the grains stage.
• b) Hydrate the grains (2):
• In this stage, water is spread over the clean grains by spraying and they're continuously mixed to then move to the polish stage.
• c) Polish (3):
• In this stage of the process, the hydrated grains are polished and rested by a degerminator or grain polishing machine which polishes and separates the grain in two parts, the first one that is composed by fibers, pericarp, parts of the germ, and dark flours which we will call fiber fractions, the second part are the polished grains and endosperms which we will call endosperms, afterwards they pass to the stage of dry fiber fractions.
• d) Dry fibers fractions (4):
• The fiber fractions are dried with a stream of hot air at a temperature range of 90° C. to 120° C. Afterwards, the fiber fractions pass to the sift fiber fractions stage.
• e) Sift fibers fractions (5):
• the dry fiber fraction is sifted to seperate the pericarp and germ from the dark flours. The particles left on top of the sieve with a sieve opening range of 0.71 mm to 0.85 mm are the pericarp and gem, while the dark flours fractions are the ones that pass through. Afterwards, the particles that pass through the mesh pass to the nixtamalize stage and the particles left on top of the mesh pass to the mill stage.
• f) Mill (6):
• The pericarp and germ are milled in a hammer mill and sieve so that 95% of the particles pass through a sieve with a sieve opening of 0.25 mm. The milled pericarp and germ will be called milled fibers fraction, afterwards the milled fibers pass to the nixtamalize stage, while the endosperms of stage c) pass to the hydrate endosperms stage.
• g) Hydrate endosperms (7):
• In this stage, water is spread over the endosperms by spraying and continuously mixing, continuedly they're left to rest for a maximum time of one hour, once this time has passed, they pass to the degerm stage.
• h) Degerm (8):
• The germ is separated from the polished hydrated endosperms and the pericarp from the polished grains, that still have it, using a degerminator, forming a mix of flours, germ, and differently sized endosperms. After this stage, they pass to the mill in BCH roller mill and sift stage.
• i) Mill in BCH roller mill and sift (9):
• In this stage, the endosperms and the flours and germ mixture are passed through banks of BCH roller mills, then the endosperms, flours mixture and germs is sifted in two parts:
• the first are endosperms of uniform size and the second are flours mixture, endosperms of non-uniform size and germs, this second part will be called fine flours fraction, later on the endosperms of uniform size pass to the stage of nixtamalize endosperms of uniform size and the fine flours fraction pass to the stage of nixtamalize.
• j) Nixtamalize (10):
• The fine flours fractions, the milled fibers fractions and the dark flours are mixed, an aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide with 0.1% to 0.15% based on the weight of the milled fibers fractions and dark and fine flours is hydrated by spraying at a temperature of 80° C. to 85° C., the mixture then remains at a temperate range of 40° C. to 45° C. and a continuous mixing is maintained, until reaching a humidity percentage between 25% and 32%, subsequently they're left to rest from one to two hours at a temperature between 40° C. and 45° C. After this step the endosperms of uniform size are passed to the nixtamalize endosperms of uniform size stage.
• k) Nixtamalize endosperms of uniform size (11):
• A solution of calcium hydroxide of 0.1% to 0.15% in weight in relation to the endosperms of uniform size is hydrated by spraying at a temperature range of 80° C. to 85° C., it's then left to rest for a period of two to four hours at a temperature of 40° C. to 45° C. Afterwards the nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size is extruded.
• l) Extrude (12):
• The nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size is subjected to a double screw extruder in a range of its capacity between 80 to 90%, at a input material temperature of 40° C. to 50° C. and an output material temperature of 60° C. to 70° C. After the nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size is extruded, it's cut and rapidly cooled at temperatures lower than 60° C. The nixtamalized, extruded and rapidly cooled endosperm of uniform size will be called extrudate fractions. Afterwards they pass to the mix stage.
• m) Mix (13):
• The extrudate fraction is combined in a 65% to 75% proportion with the mixed nixtamalized flours in a 35% to 25% proportion respectively. Once mixed, the fractions pass to the stage of mill and instantly dehydrate.
• n) Mill and instantly dehydrate (14):
• In this stage, the mix is milled in a micro pulverizer mill. Afterwards, it's instantly dehydrated with a flux of warm air, this hot air is transported through a in which the diameter is reduced decreasing its pressure and increasing its velocity, afterwards the section where the diameter is reduced meets a section where the pipe diameter increases and the air expands causing an instant drying of the milled mixture. Consecutively the milled dehydrated mixture passes to the cool stage.
• o) Cool (15):
• The cooling is carried out until the milled dehydrated mixture reaches a temperature between 30° C. and 35° C. by means of pneumatic transport using air at room temperature. Afterwards it passes to the sift stage.
• p) Add milled germ and pericarp (16):
• In the event that the milled fibers fraction passes to the add milled germ and pericarp stage, milled germ and pericarp is added by means of a volumetric dispenser or gravimetric, between 0% to 75% of the total of the milled germ and pericarp. Afterwards it passes to the sift stage.
• q) Sift (17):
• The milled, dehydrated, and cooled mixture is sifted, the sifting yields two fractions:
• the fine fraction and the coarse fraction. The fine fraction is the nixtamalized maize flour, while the fraction that does not comply with the granulometric specifications will be called the coarse fraction and is sent to the remill stage
• r) Remill (18):
• The coarse factions that are separated by the sieve are sent to be remilled in a micro pulverizer mill and afterwards are sent to the sift stage, the nixtamalized flours that comply with the granulometric properties pass to the store stage.
• s) Store (19):
• The flours that are separated by the sieve are sent to be stored in a hopper or/and packaged in different presentations such as sacks.