Corn Moisture Adjustment

Corn moisture adjustment moistens corn kernels by water and steam, which can provide the optimum processing advantage for corn peeling an degermination.
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Corn moisture adjustment moistures corn kernels by water and steam, which can provide the optimum processing advantage for corn peeling an degermination. Corn moisture adjustment is the necessary process in corn co-production.

CORN MOISTURE ADJUSTMENT mainly adjusts corn bran and germ moisture, increases its moisture, controls moisture permeation into the corn endosperm so as to soften corn bran and germ, increase bran tenacity, reduce bonding strength between corn bran and endosperm and improve corn peeling and degerming efficiency. Corn moisture can be divided into dampening and moistening.

When the corn moisture is 20%, corn peeling and degerming efficiency becomes high, but the end products moisture is also high. The suitable processing moisture is 16-17%. When the moisture content has inconformity, we can adjust the steam. When the moisture content is 18% above, it doesn’t need corn steam adjustment, but can directly peel and grind corn.

Besides, water temperature is an important factor which affects water absorption of corn kernels and corn germ. We can adopt different steam or moisture adjustment methods for different temperature. When the water temperature is 20℃ above, we can adopt water adjustment to save energy. When the water moisture is lower, we can adopt moisture and steam adjustment simultaneously. When the corn is dampening, we can spray steam in the grains so as to improve material temperature and water temperature and accelerate moisture permeating speed.

After dampening, corn is sent to the warehouse for moistening. But too long moistening time may cause hard peeling. Too short moistening time may cause decreasing degermination efficiency.

Usually the corn moistening time is 8-10min, and hard corn needs more time. For the same moistening time, when the water temperature is higher, the water absorption quantity is larger. For the same water temperature, the water absorption quantity is becoming larger with time increasing. Dampener is the common corn moisture adjustment equipment.