Dry and Wet Sieve Analyses - Fluid Quip Technologies · All contents are to be considered...

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

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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

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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

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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