Unit II
Rice milling
Introduction
• In terms of volume production, rice is among the
three leading cereals of the world. ( wheat & maize
are the other two.)
• It is grown almost exclusively for human
consumption & represents over 50% of daily food
intake for 1.6 billion people.
• Rice (Oryza sativa, Linn.) belongs to grass family
Gramineae.
Cont…
• Three main categories of rice are
Long grain
Medium grain
Short grain
The distribution of rice weight is:
• Hull (husk) 20 % of the rough rice weight(range from 16
to 28%).
• Bran layer 11%,
• Germ 1 %, and
• Starchy Endosperm 69%.
Cont…
• There is no international standard for brown rice grain size
and shape.
• IRRI (Philippines) uses the following scale for size:
Extra long - >7.50 mm
Long - 6.61 to 7.50 mm
Medium - 5.51 to 6.60 mm
Short - <5.50 mm
• Grain shape is characterized based on length-to-width ratio:
slender, >3.0; medium, 2.1 to 3.0; bold 1.1 to 2.0; and round,
< 1.0.
List of rice varieties classified into four classes by the Grade Standards
Committee and agreed to by the States (some of example)
Processing of Rice
Milling of Rice
• Rice milling is carried out either at small scale or
large scale.
• The objective of the rice milling is to remove the
husk and bran with minimum possible breakage of
endosperm.
• Paddy is generally harvested at 18-25% moisture and
then dried to 12-13% moisture either on farm or at
the mill before processing.
Milling Procedure
Traditional method:
• In traditional milling of rice, paddy is placed in a
mortar and pounded with pestles either by hands or
with the feet.
• After some time of pounding, the rice is sifted to
separate the husk.
• The pounding process is repeated several times.
Milling Procedure
Traditional method:
• Rice obtained by this process is called brown
rice/rough rice and contain more amount of vitamins
as a proportion of the pericarp, testa and aleurone
layers remain on the rice grain.
Milling Procedure
Mechanical/Commercial method:
• With the introduction of mechanized mills, hand-
pounding method has steadily decreased because it
could not compare with machine mills. The conventional
mills in use can be categorized into three main types:
Huller mills
Sheller-huller mills
Sheller-cone polisher mills
Importance of Milling
• Milling is a crucial step in post-production of rice.
• The basic objective of a rice milling system is to remove the
husk and the bran layers, and produce an edible, white rice
kernel that is sufficiently milled and free of impurities.
• Depending on the requirements of the customer, the rice
should have a minimum of broken kernels.
Chemical composition
Brown rice White rice Bran
Water (%) 13-14 13-14 13-14
Starch (%) 68-70 80 9
Protein (%) 6-8 6-7 14
Fat (%) 3 1 20
Fiber (%) 2-3 0.5 25
Crude ash (%) 1-1.5 0.5 9-10
Amylose % of starch 28-30 33 6
Milling systems
• A rice milling system can be a simple one or two step
process, or a multi stage process.
• In a one step milling process, husk and bran removal
are done pass and milled or white rice is produced
directly out of paddy.
• In a two step process, removing husk and removing
bran are done separately, and brown rice is produced
as an intermediate product.
• In multistage milling, rice will undergo a number of
different processing steps.
Mechanical/Commercial Milling
• Commercial milling systems mill the paddy in stages,
and hence are called multi-stage or multi-pass rice
mills.
• The objective of commercial rice milling is to reduce
mechanical stresses and heat buildup in the grain,
thereby minimizing grain breakage and producing
uniformly polished grain.
Mechanical/Commercial Milling
• Compared to village-level systems, the commercial
milling system is a more sophisticated system
configured to maximize the process of producing well
milled, whole grains.
• The modern commercial mill has three basic stages.
The husking stage
The whitening-polishing stages
The grading, blending, and packaging stage.
Mechanical/Commercial Milling
• In modern rice mills, many adjustments(e.g. rubber
roll clearance, separator bed inclination, feed rates)
are automated for maximum efficiency and ease of
operation.
• This provides a more objective means of setting
milling pressures on the grain.
The modern rice milling process
Stages Function
Pre-cleaning Removing all impurities and unfilled grains from
the paddy
Husking Removing the husk from the paddy
Husk aspiration Separating the husk from the brown
rice/dehusked paddy
Paddy Separating the dehusked paddy from the brown
separation rice
De-stoning Separating small stones from the brown rice
Polishing Improving the appearance of milled rice by
removing remaining bran particles and by
polishing the exterior of the milled kernel
The modern rice milling process
Stages Function
Shifting Separating small impurities or chips from the
milled rice
Length grading Separating small and large broken from the head
rice
Blending Mix head rice with pre determined amount of
broken, as required by the customer
Weighing and Preparing milled rice for transport to the customer
bagging
The Process
The Process
1 - Paddy is dumped in the intake pit feeding the pre cleaner
2 - Pre-cleaned paddy moves to the rubber roll husker:
3 - Mixture of brown rice and dehusked paddy moves to the
separator
4 - Dehusked paddy is separated and returned to the rubber roll
husker
5 - Brown rice moves to the destoner
6 - De-stoned, brown rice moves to the 1st stage (abrasive) whitener
7 - Partially milled rice moves to the 2nd stage (friction) whitener
The Process
8 - Milled rice moves to the sifter
9a - (for simple rice mill) ungraded, milled rice moves to bagging
station
9b – (for more sophisticated mill) milled rice moves to the polisher
10- Polished rice, will move to length grader
11 - Head rice moves to head rice bin
12 – Broken moves to broken bin
13 – Pre-selected amount of head rice and broken move to blending
station
The Process
14 – Custom-made blend of head rice and broken moves to bagging
station
15 – Bagged Rice moves to the market
A – straw, chaff and empty grains are removed
B - husk removed by the aspirator
C – small stones, mud balls etc. removed by destoner
D - Coarse (from 1st whitener) and fine (from 2nd whitener) bran
removed from the rice grain during the whitening process
E - Small broken/brewer’s rice removed by the sifter
Function of a pre-cleaner-
A simple pre-cleaner used in rice mills usually contain a oscillating
double screen bed with an aspirator. The first screen is a scalper
that lets through the grain but retains straw.
The second screen retains
the grains but lets through
broken grains and small
stones or weed seeds. The
air aspirator sucks out
dust and the light empty
grains. Air dampers are
provided and have to be
adjusted to prevent the
good grain from being
sucked out.
Common husking technologies-
• Three different husking technologies are commonly used:
Steel husker,
Under runner disk husker and
Rubber roller husker.
• In order to separate the remaining unhusked paddy grains from
the brown rice fraction and feed them back into the husker a
paddy separator is used.
The steel husker removes the husks and whitens the
rice in one pass.
Paddy rice is fed into the
machine and passes
between a revolving steel
shaft and a cylindrical
shaped mesh screen.
These machines are
normally powered by a 5 to
20 hr. engine and are very
simple to operate. They are
relatively cheap. STEEL HUSKER
Rubber rolls
• The rubber-roller huller is the most efficient hulling machine.
• As the name suggests two rubber rollers of the same
diameter are operated at different speeds to remove the husk
from the paddy.
• One roller has a fixed position and the other is adjustable to
meet the desired clearance.
• The adjustable roller rotates slightly
slower than the fixed roller.
• Rubber-roll hullers have an aspirator
in the base of the machine to
separate the hulls from the brown
rice.
Destoner
• The grain gathers a lot of stones and mud ball during
handling, which must be removed.
• The de-stoner is a simple vibrating deck and air blower that
suspends the grain from the stones.
• The stones are thrown off in one end
and the brown rice in the other end.
Destoner
• White rice is produced from brown rice by removing the bran
layer and the germ.
• The bran layer is removed from the kernel by applying friction
to the grain surface either by rubbing the grains against an
abrasive or against each other.
• The amount of bran removed is
normally between 8-10% of the total
paddy weight but this will vary
according to the variety and degree of
whiteness required.
Different Types of Rice
Characteristics Considered for Grading of
Milled Rice
• Dead rice, broken and brewers percentages
• Defectives
• Foreign matter
• Presence of paddy
• Whiteness
• Chalkiness
• Moisture content
Grades of Indian Rice
• Common variety: Short bold & long bold rice
• Fine variety: Medium slender rice
• Superfine variety: Long slender & short slender rice
Grain Shape – ISO classification
Scale Shape L/W ratio
1 Slender Over 3.0
3 Medium 2.1 – 3.0
5 Bold 1.1 – 2.0
9 Round 1.0 or less