METHOD FOR GRAIN TREATMENT Russian patent published in 1994 - IPC

FIELD: food industry. SUBSTANCE: grain with moisture content of 21 ∓ 0.5% is treated with drying agent at specific consumption of 500-600 cu. m/ht. Grain is heated to temperature of 38-40 C exceeding the permissible temperature (38 C) by 3-5 C. The temperature is maintained up to grain moisture content of 17.0-18.0%. Air is used as drying agent. Treated grain is subject to rest in tight vessel with gas mixture of nitrogen and oxygen and the content of the latter within 0.2-3.0% for 8-10 h. Gaseous medium in intergrain space is created by replacing air with triple volume of blown dried nitrogen-oxygen mixture in vertical direction, from bottom upwards. Final drying of grain is accomplished by active ventilation with nitrogen-oxygen mixture of same component content. Its consumption is set at 50-60 cu.m/ht at ambient temperature to attain grain moisture content of 14.0-14.5%. EFFECT: higher quality of grain drying and reduced energy consumption. 2 cl