Performance of a plate mill and a modified Engelberg huller for small-scale dry milling and de-germing of maize

A modified Engelberg huller and a plate mill (Burr mill) were used to dry mill maize to recover superior quality grits and pure germ. With maize conditioned to a moisture content of 4% above the initial moisture content 12%, wb (wet basis)] the huller gave 68% large grits (oil and fibre ～ 1%), 12% small grits and 14% flour fraction which contained pulverized germ (with an oil content of 16%). In the plate mill, 2% water-conditioned maize gave 38 large grits, 38% small grits and 10% whole germ (which had 18% oil, representing 64% purity). Maize which was water-conditioned to 6% added water gave 45% large grits, 30% small grits and 16% germ-bran mixture (which had 16% oil representing 57% purity). the study indicated the possibility of using the plate mill for recovering a substantial part of the germ and grits from maize, while the huller gave higher yields of large grits, but with recovery of only a small portion of germ.