Post on 17-Mar-2020
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Don Cannon, Ph.D., QA/QC Lead
Midland Scientific Fuel Ethanol Laboratory Conference
La Vista, NE, October 22, 2019
Dry and Wet Sieve Analyses
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
• Liquefaction
• Viscosity
• Hydration
• Starch release
• Break open germ
• Enzyme access
• Fermentation
• Enzyme access
• Settling and agitation
Wide Ranging Impacts of Particle Size
Particle sizing, typically with sieves, is usually a routine part of QA/QC program
• Post-Fermentation Processing
• Distillation
• Decanters
• Evaporators
• Oil recovery
• Release of protein from fiber
• Dry solids
• Bulk density
• Flowability
• Explosibility
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Grain Pans: Grain specific check of general quality
https://www.meshsieve.com/
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Grain Pan: Broken Kernels and Foreign Material %
https://www.gipsa.usda.gov/fgis/visualref/principle_grain_vri/principle_grain_vri_MAIN_p003.htm
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Sizing Sieves: Quantitation of Particle Sizes
https://www.formtest.de
“Laboratory sieve features high precision, accurate mesh, acid and
alkali resistance, ideal for all kinds of powders and particle analysis.”
https://www.endecotts.com/products/sieves/wet
-washing-sieves/product-specifications/
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Sieve Sizing: Mesh (#) micrometer (micron) openings
http://www.bionicsscientific.com/sieve-shakers/test-sieves.html
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
• Variety of sieve shaking equipment
• Vibrations through mechanical means
• Ro-tap can be calibrated via tap stroke
• Consistency is key
• Don’t overload system capacity
• 8” sieves – 3-5 pans – 100-150g
• Blinding caused by particle aggregation
• Oil content is primary factor
• Can be minimized via plastic balls (10/pan)
• Sieve cleaning – dry brush, compressed
air, flowing water, or ultrasonic cleaning
Sieve Shakers
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
The Size of Corn ComponentsStarch Structure
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
185°F
195°F195°F
+ shear
Native165°F
The Size and Composition of Starch
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
The Size of Corn Components
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cellulose_spacefilling_model.jpg
https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/Supramolecular-
Assembly-and-Supermolecules.aspx
Molecular Structure of Cellulose
Supermolecular Structures
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
DDGS Sieving
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DDGS Size Fractions – Plant 1
+20# -20# +35# -35# +50# -50# +100# -100#
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
DDGS Size Fractions – Plant 2
+20# -20# +35# -35# +50# -50# +100# -100#
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
+20# DDGS Size Fractions
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Selective Grind Technology™ (SGT™) Overview
• Installed in slurry / liquefaction
• Dewater mash in paddle screen
• cake to selective mill
• liquid bypassed to mixing tank
• Secondary milling step – 36”, 40”, 52” Mills
• 3rd grind from wet mill
• optimized grinding plate design
• autogap adjustor for grind consistency
• Mixing tank combines cake and liquid streams
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Selective Grind Technology™ (SGT™) Overview
• Selectively grind large particles
• without creating a lot of fines (<50 um)
• Focus on reduces particles to less than 850 um
• Hammer mills leave large particles - #6 screens
are 2286 um
• Release and hydrate starch in liquefaction
• Breaks open germ
• Releases protein from fiber
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Process Steps for Simulating SGT™
1. Dewatering (paddle screen simulation using USA Standard sieve screens)
• Selection of mesh sieve size
• particle size distribution, moisture level, temperature
2. Selective grinding (disc grind simulation using a flat-blade mill)
• Particle size analyses on wet-cake material
• type of mill, time, agitation
3. Fermentation (assessing enzymatically available starch via saccharification)
• Rapid assessment using alpha-amylase and glucoamylase dosing
• real-world substrates (versus optimized buffer-based starch methods)
• post-saccharification centrifugation provides oil recovery potential
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Quantitating Particle Size in Mash
• Particle size distributions across five different 3” dia. sieve size ranges (>850, 850-500, 500-300,
300-150, and 150-45 um) as a percentage of total solids larger than 45 um retained per pan
850 um (#20) 45 um (#325)
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Wet-wash sieving
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Wet-wash sieving
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
• Start with known amount of material
• Rinse all material over a given size sieve screen
• Use lots of hot water…Increase flow over wash duration
• Use spoon to disperse water and mix sample…not to push material through
• Careful not to overflow wash water until blinding is washed through
• Check progress by looking at effluent stream for passing particles
• Weigh aluminum pan + coffee filter
• Place retained material into coffee filter
• Fold coffee filter and squeeze out liquid using hands
• Be sure to collect all material…Use water to rinse material back to an amount that can be transferred
• Dry in oven at 105C for several hours, weigh immediately after taking out of oven
• Data analysis
Wet-washing General Procedure
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Quantitating Mash Particle Size
• Particle size distributions across five different 3” dia. sieve size ranges (>850, 850-500, 500-300,
300-150, and 150-45 um) as a percentage of total solids larger than 45 um retained per pan
• This ratio (normalization) to >45um allows for plant-to-plant comparisons
Sample IDSieve Screen
(mm)
Drying Pan
Weight (g)
Initial Sample
Weight (g)
Sample Dry
Weight (g)
Sample End
Weight (g)
Recovered Solids
per Pan (%)
Solids per Particle
Size Range (%)
Particle
Size Range
850 2.49 53.55 4.06 1.57 2.9 37.4 > 850μm
500 2.47 51.37 5.14 2.67 5.2 28.9 500 - 850μm
300 2.49 51.45 5.77 3.28 6.4 15.0 300 - 500μm
150 2.46 47.40 5.86 3.40 7.2 10.2 150 - 300μm
45 2.42 49.17 6.27 3.85 7.8 8.4 45 - 150μm
Liq 1
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Quantitating Mash Particle Size
➢ Hammermill screen size
was 7/64”
➢ Hydroheater between
slurry 2 and liquefaction
➢ Results align well with
laser light scattering
particle size analysis…
but not as resolved.
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Verifying Selective Grind Simulation: Particle Size
pre- and post-SGT™ at plant SGT™-plant vs. SGT™-sim
All contents are to be considered confidential and proprietary work product of FQT. © 2019 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.
Summary and Acknowledgments
• Particle size has many impacts on grain processing
• Particle size ranges can be routinely evaluated (QA/QC’d) on dry and wet material
• Variety of issues can contribute to “highers” seen in dry products
• “Fines” (<45um) are not capable of accurately being measured in dry products
• Wet-wash sieving gives unique insights into in-process samples
• Thanks to all that we’ve worked with at the various dry-grind facilities
• Thank you for your attention!
• dcannon@fluidquiptechnologies.com