Farmers Review Africa Sept/Oct 2018 FRA - September - October 2018 digital 5 | Page 33

FEATURE
Corn Cob Dryer Houses
By Nita Karume
M
aize seed production is a
growing market in some
African countries. However,
seed production requires special
technologies which ensure the quality
of the produced seed, thus warranting
investments and guarantying return
on investments. For maize seeds,
corn cob dryer houses are essential.
In order to prevent seed damage
on the field and later on during
processing, seeds have to be
harvested earlier or before they dry up
(30 – 40% MOI) than commodities
(13 - 15% MOI), making cob
drying necessary. It is of paramount
importance, that stress cracks are
avoided, energy is saved and the
drying processed is optimized in
terms of capacity and workload.
Sun dried seeds cannot be managed
accurately on the point and often lack
in germination ability.
The susceptibility for breakage due to
stress cracks and tiny fissures shows
a linear correlation with temperature,
and the proportion of cracked/
popped kernels often reach more
than 50%. Only in corn cob dryer
houses, specific drying for individual
genotypes can be controlled in
terms of time, tempering phases, air
temperature, relative humidity, air
flow rate and air distribution.
PETKUS Corn Cob Dryer Houses
have proven their versatility and
drying quality in many different
environments from South-East
Asia to Europe and Russia. Since
decades, the company and its highly
qualified engineers have planned,
designed, built, delivered, installed
and commissioned single as well as
double pass dryer houses.
The entire product and service
range, from design engineering to
construction and consulting is done
strictly in-house and within the
PETKUS Group members to make
sure, that clients only deal with
experienced professionals.
Features
PETKUS Corn Cob Dryer Houses
consists of several independent
drying chambers based on
capacity demands and customer’s
requirements. The chambers walls
consist of trapezoidal steel profile
walls and are equipped with filling
hatches, emptying flaps and air flaps
as well as fans and burners with
combustion chambers.
Working principle
The material to be dried is softly
fed into the drying chamber via
the filling hatches. The material is
dried on an inclined and perforated
steel plate (ventilation floor) through
which the air enters and exits. The
drying process with upper or lower
air ventilation is well controlled via
the ventilation door and the supply
air flaps. The installed limit switches
are connected to the plant control
system.
The alternating drying process with
top and bottom air results in an even
drying of the entire filling layer. This
guarantees optimum drying results
while at the same time treating the
material in a gentle way. The drying
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