ion IV - Agricultural neering Board Review Materials

Rice Post Production Processing

Arnold R. Elepafto
Associate Professor
Agricultural and Bio-Process Division
Institute of Agricultural Engineering
Col lege of En g ineeri n g and Ag ro-Ind ustria I Tech nology
University of the Philippines Los Bafros

I. Introduction
. Processing the palay harvest provides added value to the product.
' The modern rice varieties are non-photo-periodic and harvest during the wet season is
very vulnerable to spoilage. The farmers need basic postharvest facilities, such as
threshers, dryers and storage facillties to prevent postharvest losses.

IL Physical Propefties
A, Product dimension and structure
The length of the paddy grain varies due to variations in the length of the awn and the
pedicel.

Types of paddy:
1' ExLrernely long - B0% of the whole brown rice have a length of 7.5 mm or more
2. Long - 80% of the whole brown rice have a length of 6.5 mm or more but shorter than
7.5 mm
3. Medium - 80% of the whole brown rice have a length of z 5.5 mm but < 6.5 mm
4. Shott - paddy with B0% of the whole brown rice kernels are shofier than 5.5 mm

Length/ Width ratio of the whole brown rice kernel:

1. Slender: )3.0
2. Bold: 2 2,0 but < 3.0
3. Round: < 2.0
. Head rice grain - is a rice particle with length of 6/8 or more of the length of the whole
unbroken milled rice kernel,

' Larg€ broken milled grain - a rice particle with a length of 3/8 or more but shorter
than 6/8.

. Small brokens - are rice particles which will not pass through a perforated sieve with a
round peforatlon of 1.4 mm but length of the grain is shorter than 3/8.

I Brewer's rice -
is composed of rice particles which will pass through a sieve with a
round perforation of 1.4 mm diameter.

B. Mass properties
Physical Characteristics of paddy:
1. Bulk density - 576 kg/ m3
2. Voids, air space - 49o/o
3. Kernel specific gravity - f .i1
4. Angle of repose - 36 degrees
5. Coefficient of friction :

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./ Smooth steel = 0.41
,/ Finished concrete = 0.52
./ Smooth wood = 0.44

6. Husk density
r' (well-packed) = 1.tB kg/m,
./ Loosely packed = t!7 kg/ m,

Husks represent 2A to 24o/o of the weight of paddy.

The free load density of husks is about 125 kg per cubic meter. The calorific
value of husks varies from 3000 to 3500 Kcal.

C. Moisture content - amount of water in the grain

Two methods are used to represent moisture contentl
1. Wet bastb- obtained by dividing the weight of water in the material by the total weight
of the material.

o/oMC*6 (tOo9ro)
=
#*,
Where:
MC*1= moisture content, wet basis
Ww= weight of water
W= weight of dry matter
2. Drv basis- obtained by dividing the weight of water by the weight of dry matter,
olonCau
. =
ff,roo"r",
The moisture content on a dry basis and wet basis are related by the equation
below:
o/oMC66
= #k;(looo/o)
IIL Rice Drying
A. Theory of Drying

Two major periods of drying

1. Constant rate period - drying takes place from the surface of the grain i,e. similar to
evaporation of moisture from a free water sufface. The magnitude of the rate of drying
during this period is dependent upon (a) the area

exposed, (b) difference in humidity between air stream and wet suface, (c) the
coefiicient of mass transfer, and (d) velocity of the drying air.

2. Fallino rate oerrbd - comes after the constant rate period. It is controlled largely by
the product and involves the (a) movement of moisturewithin the material to the iurtaci
by liquid diffusion, and (b) removal of moisture from the surface.

o Heat utilization factor - ratio of temperature decrease due to cooling of the air during drying
(evaporative cooling) to the temperature increase due to heating the air.

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HUF =
T, T,
T1 Tz

Where:
Iz = original dry bulb air temperature
Iz = temperature of air after heating
Ts = dry bulb temperature of air exhausted from dryer

B. Drying methods

1. Pre-cleaning of paddy
Harvested paddy contains a high percentage moisture, impurities such as immature
grains and others. These impurities should be removed prior to drying and storage by a
simple sieve combined with a ventilator or a scalping reel.

2. Sun drying - the process of drying grains under the heat of the sun,

-r. Direct heated air drying

Products of combustion are forced through the product with the drying air. This type of
dryer is less expensive and makes more efficient use of the energy of the fuel.

fndirect heated air drying

The heat transfer suface is heated by the burning fuel and the air which is used for
drying the product is circulated around the outside of the heat transfer suface and then
. through the products. This method is expensive compared to the direct heated dryer
because the overall thermal efficiency is low, Most of the energy of the fuel is lost through
the smokestack.

C. Crop dryer components

A complete drying system is composed of the ff:
1. Drying bin
2. Blower and air heating device
3. Instrument for quality control
4. Loading and loading facilities for the grain

IV. Rice Milling

A. Principles of milling and size reduction

Milling is a term that describe the proeesses of convefting paddy into rice. It includes:
7. Cleaning removing foreign materials such as particles of sand, stone, straw, seeds,
-
etc, from the paddy.
2. Dehusking and husk separation removing the husk from the paddy with a
-
minimum of damage to the grain, and separating the husk from the paddy.
3.

4. Paddy separation - separating dehusked paddy from any remaining paddy grains.
Most dehuskers remove about 90% ofthe husk,
5' Bran removal- removing all part of the bran layerfrom the grain to produce polished
rice.
6. Grading - separating (or grading) broken from unbroken rice. The brokens are often
separated in difterent sizes,

. Rice Milling Operation

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PSAE Reqion rv - Agricultural Engineering Board Review Materiats vI- 4 I
To get a clearer understanding of the different processes in rice milling, the different rice-
milling operations have been outlined in a tabulated form below. This is a complete oufline
and not necessarily the process in a pafticular rice mill.

OPERATION BY-PRODUCT
Pre-cleaning and de-stoning Foreign materials (straw, chaff, leaves,
sand, stones, weed seeds, metals, etc.)
Gradinq (from non-uniform to uniform sizes) Paddy of different lenoth or thickness
Husking (from paddy to brown rice) Husk

Siftinq Coarse brans and brokens

Aspiration Husk

Paddy separation
Grading of brown rice (from non- uniform brown rice tr Immature, brown rice of different length
unifornn brown rice) or thickness
Conditioning (addition of steam and air to increase None
from 14olo to i5.25%)

Tempering (storage to allow moisture to equalize None

among the grains to 157o
Abrasive whitening (from brown rice to undermilled Bran and germ
rice with powdered bran)

Friction whitening (from undermilled to milled rice) Fine bran

Rice polishing or refining (from milled rice to Polish or very fine bran
polished rice)

Brewer's rice
-Q4nts
Rice grading (from mixture of rice and broken to Broken grain
head rice and different sized brokens)

Sorting (from mixture of milled rice and is colored rice Discolored grain
to white milled rice)

Glazing or coating (with glucose talcum and lyzine) None

Blending (with enriched rice and brokens of known None

percentage)

Weighing None

PackaEing None

Types and components of mills:

c. Types of rice millcommonly available in the philippines

1. Kiskisan - more popular and most patronized mill in rural areas. It is composed mainly of a
metal cylinder with rectangular protrusions running along its whole length and a hollow
cylinder casing. It works on the principle of friction in dehulling the paddy. A (low) recovery
of 50 to 60% is obtained.

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Cono-type rice mill - technically known as the under runner disc which consists of 2
horizontal cast iron disc partly coated with an abrasive layer. The top disc is fixed
in the
frame housing while the bottom disc rotates. This mill is equipped with a vertical
cone-
shaped polisher.
3. Centrifugal type - most advanced milling machine that works on the principle of
centrifugal force and impact,
4' Rubber roll - this falls under friction type machines consisting of two rubber rolls rotating
in opposite directions at different speeds. one roll moves about 25olo faster than
the other,
The difference in peripheral speeds subjects the paddy grains falling between the rolls
to a
shearing action that strips off the husk. The clearance bitween the rolls is adjustable
and is
kept at less than the thickness of the grain. It has a 70o/o milling recovery.

D. Husk Separation

1. Husks are easily separated with aspiration.

2. The brokens, germs, and stone bran can be separated by a vibrating or rotary sieve. A
vibrating sieve oscillates while a rotary sieve, termed a rotary sifter oi plansifter, moves in
circular motion. These are not used to separate large brokens because their perlorations are
the same diameter as unbroken rice.

E" Paddy Separation

A mixture of 85-90% brown rice and 10-15% paddy is fed into the paddy separation stage,
The paddy must be separated before the brown rice goes to the bran removat stage.

Paddy and brown rice have different characteristics that make separation easy:
1. The average weight of paddy by volume is less than that of brown rice i.e. specific gravity
of
paddy is lower than that of brown rice.
2. Paddy grains are longer, wider, and thicker than those of brown rice.
3. The coefficient of friction is different.

Types of paddy separators

1' -
Compariment-type separator makes use of the difference in specific gravity and buoyancy
of the paddy grains and brown rice.
?. Tray-type separator - makes use of the difference in specific gravity and length.
3' Seven-type separator - makes use of the difference in width and thickness.

F, Bran Rernoval

Two processes used to remove the bran layer from the grain:

1' Abrasion process - uses a rough suface, which is an abrasive stone, to break and peel the
bran off the grain.
2. Friction process - uses the friction between the grains themselves to break and peel off
the bran.

' Whitening is the process of removing the outer and sometimes inner bran layer.

' Polishing refers to the process of removing small bran particles that stick
to the rice suface
after whitening and gives the rice grain a shiny appearance.

Three kinds of whitening rnachines widely used in the industry

1. Veftical abrasive whitener - available with the cone directed either up or down, but with
no difference in performance or capacity.
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. Respiration - combining of the carbohydrates in the plant cells with the oxygen of the air
to form carbon dioxide and water and to release energy, mosUy as heat,

C. Types and methods of crop storage

Types of storage

1. Bag storage - Stacla are safe up to 20 bags high. The height of each bag of paddy in
gunny bags is A.27 m. It should always be stacked on wood dunnage to prevent
moisture migration and to permit good sanitation practices,

. Dunnage - wood frames used on concrete fioors for stacking of bags of rice.
Prevents dirbct contact between the grain and the floor.

Advantaqes:
./ Flexible
,/ Lower capital cost
Disadvantaoes.:
./ Labor intensive, and slow
./ lnvolves much spillage
,/ Higher operation cost
'/ More difficult to monitor for control of insects, rodents, and birds.
./ Deterioration is difficult to monitor

2. Bulk storage
Advantaqes:
'/ Not labor intensive; requires fewer men
./ Results in little spillage
./ Lower handling cost
./ Easier to monitor for control of insects, rodents, and birds
/ Changes in temperature and moisture is easy to observe
,/ Insect infestation is easier to prevent; easy to fumigate

Disadvantaqes:
./ Inflexible
,/ Requires a higher level of skill in construction and operation
./ Requires mechanical handling equipment
./ Higher capital cost

. Aeration is the process.of moving air through stored paddy at low flow rates to maintain
or improve its quality. This is used to:
a. Cool stored paddy
6. Prevent storage odors
c. Remove small amounts of moisture
d. Reduce moisture accumulation
e. Apply fumigants
Principal pafts of an aeration system:
a. Fans to move the air
b. Ducts to carry air from the fans to the storage system.
. Godown - a warehouse used for storing paddy or rice either in bulk or bag.

. Trier - small metal probe for taking samples of paddy or rice from bags or from bulk
containers.
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VI.Glossary
Rice milling - this refers to the process of removing the husk from the paddy and the bran from
the kernel (brown rice). in Japan and some other countries where rice is stored or transpofted in
the form of brown rice this refers to the removal of the bran layers'

Milling degree - this refers to the extent in which the bran layer has been removed, expressed
in percentage of the original brown rice or paddy.

Brown or cargo rice - this is the form of rice after the husk has been removed and separated
from lhe kernel.

Husking or shelling - this is the operation of removing the husk from paddy.

Whitening - WG the process of removing the bran layer from the brown rice causing its
whitening. ./

Milled rice - this is the form of rice when the bran layer has been removed from the brown rice.

polishing or refining - this is the process of removing the powdered bran adhering to the
milled rice.

Broken rice - this is milled rice whose size ranges less than 3/q to Vq of a whole grain.
Brewer's rice or points - these are broken milled rice whose sizes will allow them to pass
through a U16-inch sieve (also called "binlid" in the Filipino language).
.,.,
Head rice - this is rice, which is at least 3/a the size of the whole kernel.rz/

Foreign matter - these are impurities found in the rice such as weed, seeds, stones, sand, ditt,
etc. Also termed dockage.

Chalky kernels - these are milled rice with white or chalky pottions.

Yellow or damaged kernels - yellowish milled rice damaged by fermentation or heat andlor by
water, insects or mechanical means.

Total milling recovery - this is the weight of rice obtained in a milling operation expressed as a
percentage of the original paddy weight.

Head grain recovery - this is the weight of head rice obtained in a milling operation expressed
as a percentage of the original paddy weight.

De-stoner - a machine that separates stones from paddy during milling.

VII. References
Wimberly, J.E. 1983. Technical Handbook for the Paddy Rice Postharvest Industry in Developing
Countries. IRRI.
The Food Agency. 1995. Rice Post-Harvest Technology. Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries, Japan.

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