How does a maize mill work?
1. Cleaning / Pre-cleaning of raw maize
The raw maize is fed into the plant where it will first undergo the cleaning stage.
This step improves the quality of the final product. It’s vital that foreign material such as husks, straw and dust is removed using slotted screens or aspiration. As an extra precaution, a magnet is used to remove metal that could damage milling equipment. This process prolongs the lifespan of the mill and milling equipment.
2. Conditioning
Conditioning is the addition of water to get the germ and bran moist for optimal removal/separation. Controlled humidity increases the effectiveness of degermination and improves maize meal quality. Conditioning combined with a degerminator gives the best results.
3. Degermination (Optional)
This process removes the germ from the endosperm to achieve a more refined maize meal and to prolong the end product’s shelf life. The by-product can be used as an ingredient in animal feed, further adding to profitability.
Some regions do not include the degermination step, but go straight to milling after conditioning, especially when producing special maize meal.
4. Milling and sifting
This step entails a combination of rollers and screens that break the product down to maize meal and removes the remaining bran before packaging.
Packaging
During the final step, the product is packaged as maize meal. It can either take place manually, or via a semi-automatic or automatic process. Apart from the operational aspects involved in packaging your product you also need to consider how your product packaging looks.
