THERMALSTRUDING AS AN APPROACH TO GRAIN PROCESSING AND STORAGE

Abstract

The need to maintain the thermal stability of grain at the stage of its elevator, often many hours, drying and subsequent storage limits the possibility of intensifying these processes. Shaft, column, drum and other dryers, modern granaries are bulky and energy-intensive, weakly or not at all connected with the subsequent stages of grain processing, which, in turn, are lengthy and multi-stage, which often leads to a decrease in the quality of the final product. For a cardinal solution to this problem, it is proposed to deliberately violate its thermal stability already at the stage of post-harvest drying of field grain, using the method of thermal trudging - high-speed heating, drying and explosion (swelling) of grain during its high-temperature processing in oncoming jets for 3-5 seconds. The product of thermal trudging is strudate, a grain in which raw starch is converted into dextrins and sugars, while it is disinfected from harmful inhibitors while maintaining the microelement and vitamin composition. Thus, the process of elevator drying and expensive storage of grain is replaced by thermal trudging with simplified (without drying and ventilation) floor storage of grain and obtaining a finished product of high quality or a semi-finished product used in flour-grinding, alcohol, oil-fat, and other technologies. Implementation of a new approach to the processing and storage of grain is possible on the basis of the developed technology of thermal trudging. Pilot-industrial and industrial thermal struders of two types have been created - autonomous and satellite, re-equipped on the basis of the reconstruction of standard grain dryers. In the article, various modifications of thermostruders and the principle of their work are considered. Long-term operation of thermal struders operating on flue gas heat carriers, hot air, superheated water vapor with a previously unattainable temperature up to +600 °C (even without a special task of grain drying) showed high economic efficiency, which increases when field grain is burrowed with high humidity. The versatility of thermostruders allows the use of heat-labile modes of high-intensity drying for seed grains as well.