Oat Processing
Oat Processing
• The whole oat usually consists of 65%–75% caryopsis and 25%–35% hull
• An oat kernel contains about 56%–68% starchy endosperm. Oats are classified by color.
• The milling oats are commonly white in color.
• After separation of hulls, the oats are called groats, which apparently resemble wheat kernels.
• The oat groats are characterized by their high fat and protein contents.
• These also contain an active lipase enzyme that is to be denatured or inactivated; otherwise,
rancidity
in the milled products may develop as they have a short shelf life.
• The operations carried out for milling of oats are
(i) cleaning; (ii) drying and cooling; (iii) hulling; and (iv) cutting and flaking.
Fig. Schematic diagram showing the essential stages and products of oat milling
Processes in oat milling
Grading
• The grading apparatus comprises a perforated cylinder slowly
rotating on a horizontal axis.
• The screen may be slotted or a specially designed mesh.
Shelling or dehulling
• Moisture content has a strong influence on shelling efficiency, with
higher levels reducing efficiency but also increasing breakage of groats
• A moisture content of 12%–13% is considered best
• In most cases hulls are removed with an impact dehuller.
• The whole oats are fed into the centre of a high-speed rotor fitted with
either blades or fins.
• The combination of high velocity and impact against the ring detaches
the lemma and palea from the groat.
• The speed of the rotor is adjustable (typically 1400–2000 rpm)
allowing the process to be optimized for a particular feedstock.
• After shelling, the husk slivers are separated from the groats and
unshelled oats by aspiration.
• The few unshelled oats are then removed on a ‘paddy’ or
inclined table separator, on which groats and unshelled oats
move in opposite directions.
• The unshelled oats are returned to the dehuller.
• The accepted groats pass to a ‘clipper’ or scourer, the abrasive
action of which removes surface hairs (‘dannack’) and any
remaining fragments of husk.
• Further aspiration separates the cleaned groats from the ‘oat
dust’.
The groats are graded so that particular size fractions can be
directed to further processing appropriate to their sizes
• Large groats are used for flaking into ‘jumbo’ oat flakes;
• Medium groats are cut to produce quick-cooking flakes, or
even for oat bran production;
• Small groats are ground into flour.
Stabilization
• For the inactivation of enzymes, the grains of all sizes pass through a
continuous cooker into which live steam is injected.
• The best results are obtained by treating the raw oats at a moisture content of
14%–20% (below 14% inactivation is incomplete).
• The kilning process is designed to inactivate lipase
• Kilning is also considered to be beneficial in enhancing the flavour of the oat
product.
• One element of this is the promotion of the Maillard reaction, which occurs
between proteins and carbohydrates and gives rise to desirable flavours and
browning.
Fig. Schematic representation of kilning, showing a typical temperature moisture profile
Cutting
• Steel-cut groats are the highest volume oat product for human consumption.
• The machine by which they are produced is the granulator, in which hollow
perforated drums rotate on a horizontal axis, typically at 37–40 rpm.
• On average groats are cut into three parts.
• The cutting process produces a small amount of flour known as ‘flow meal’
• Flaking is carried out by passing steam-cooked groats, or parts of groats,
between a pair of flaking rolls
• In the steamer the temperature is raised to 99–104°C and
moisture content rises from 8%–10% to 10%–12%.
• Steaming performs two functions:
1. It completes the inactivation of lipase and
2. Prepares the groats for flaking
Oat bran and oat flours
• Passing cut groats through roller mills followed by sieving
allow concentration of branny particles
• Alternatively, pin milling or hammer milling followed by
sieving can be used
• The finer fraction of the ground meal is called oat flour
Fig. Photographs of oat groats (a), steel cut oats (b),
rolled oats (c), oat flour (d) and oat bran (e) that show
differences in physical appearance due to processing.
• After preliminary cleaning, oats are specially cleaned to
remove other grains
• and seed. It follows a milling separation combining coarse
and fine screening with
• aspiration. For further cleaning and grading, disk and
indented cylinder separators,
• gravity separators, and a paddy separator are usually
employed to separate
• seeds/materials of same size, shape, and specific gravity.
Pin oats and light oats are
• removed and utilized as feed ingredients.
Fig. Cleaning and grading of oats
• The clean oats are heat treated and partially
dried by indirectly heating the oats
• with steam at about 90°C–95°C for about 1 h in
large open pans to bring down
• their moisture to a level of 7%–10% and the
dried products are then cooled. The
• heat treatment imparts a desirable roasted
flavor to the oats, inactivates lipase, as
• well as makes it easy to remove the hull.
• The treated oats are then separated by size with the help of disk
separators.
• These are dehulled using an impact type of huller. The oats are fed to
the center of
• an impeller (rotating at 1400–2000 rpm), which throws the oats
against a rubber
• line attached to its cylindrical case. The lighter hulls, separated from
the kernel by
• impact force, are removed by aspiration. The groats are polished by
abrasion with a
• horizontal scourer. The groats are separated from the unhulled ones
by using disk
• and paddy separators.
• Usually, groats are cut into two to four uniform sizes before milling.
The groats
• are cut into pieces and steamed with live steam at about 100°C for 10–
15 min.
• Steamed groats are allowed to pass through the rolls rotating at 250–
450 rpm in
• order to roll into flakes for the production of old-fashioned rolled
groats or thin
• flakes. Open steaming before flaking helps in reducing breakage during
flaking and
• also denatures or inactivates enzymes in the products. The flakes are
then cooled by
• blowing air, which also helps to remove the remaining hull.
• To make oat flour, the same cleaning, drying,
cooling, and cutting procedures
• are followed. The steamed cut groats are
ground with impact-type hammer mill
• and the ground products are then sifted to
have the desired oat flour