System and method for steam flaking of grains
OwnerMichael L. Ray, Jonathon L. Beckettinventors
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Abstract
A system and method for processing a cereal grain including establishing a correlation between outgassing levels of one or more volatile compounds from the cereal grain as it is processed by exposure to steam cooking and rolling into a processed grain, and a starch availability in the processed grain, and altering the process to produce a desired starch availability by altering the flaking process to product the correlated outgassing levels of the volatile compounds.
Claims20
A method of optimizing flaking of a cereal grain comprising:
- establishing a correlation between outgassing levels of one or more volatile compounds from the cereal grain as it is processed by exposure to steam cooking and rolling into a processed grain, and a starch availability in the processed grain;
- selecting a desired starch availability for the processed grain;
- determining a desired outgassing level of the one or more volatile compounds based on the desired starch availability and the correlation;
- processing the cereal grain into processed grain by exposure to steam cooking and rolling of the cereal grain;
- monitoring outgassing of the one or more volatile compounds from the processed grain while the cereal grain is being processed;
- adjusting at least one of a time of the steam cooking of the cereal grain, a temperature of the steam cooking of the cereal grain, a pressure of the steam cooking of the cereal grain, a flow rate of the cereal grain into a set of rollers, and a pressure between the rollers on the cereal grain based on the monitored outgassing to drive the monitored outgassing to the desired monitored outgassing level.
A system for optimizing cereal grain flaking comprising:
- a steam chest provided with steam and pressure from a boiler;
- a peg feeder controlling the movement of grain from the steam chest;
- a set of rolls applying variable pressure to the grain exiting the steam chest via the peg feeder;
- a gas chromatograph detecting an amount of one or more volatile compounds from grain exiting the rolls;
- a control computer having operative control of temperature and pressure in the steam chest, movement of grain through the peg feeder, and pressure applied by the set of rolls;
- wherein the control computer operates the steam and pressure in the steam chest, movement of grain through the peg feeder, and pressure applied by the set of rolls to adjust amounts of the one or more volatile compounds detected by the gas chromatograph such that they are within a range correlating to a desired percentage of starch available in the cereal grain exiting from the rolls.
A system for optimizing grain processing comprising:
- a steam chest;
- a plurality of steam lines connecting a boiler to the steam chest;
- a grain flow valve operable to adjust a flow rate of grain through the steam chest;
- a roll set that rolls grain leaving the steam chest;
- a gas chromatograph configured to measure intensities of volatile gas compounds from the rolled grain;
- and
- a control computer;
- wherein the control computer controls one or more of the steam lines, the grain flow valve, and a pressure of the rollers based on feedback from the gas chromatograph to result in measured intensities of the volatile gas compounds that correlate to a predetermined starch availability percentage in the rolled grain.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.