This project combines two central process areas in one comprehensive plant: an ear corn processing plant for the handling of corn ears and a universal seed processing line for corn, grain and other crops.
The first section covers the intake of wet corn ears, husking, sorting, drying, discharge and subsequent shelling. The second section handles further seed processing, including pre-cleaning, fine cleaning, sorting, grading, treating, filling and packaging.
The result is an integrated solution that combines seasonal seed corn processing with flexible year-round seed processing in one overall concept.
Insights
The ear corn line starts with the intake of freshly harvested, wet corn ears. A walking floor platform enables controlled feeding and metered transfer of the product. From there, the ears are gently conveyed to the husking section via vibrating conveyor, inclined belt conveyor and cross conveyor.
During husking, husks and corn silk are separated from the ears. This is followed by a manual sorting section. Good ears are transferred to the dryer, while incompletely husked ears are returned to the husker for reprocessing. Atypical ears and husks are discharged separately and conveyed towards the waste silo.
The husked ears are distributed to the drying cells via longitudinal and cross distribution. Discharge cars, reversible conveying technology and impact protection systems ensure controlled, gentle filling of the dryer. For the warm air supply, high-performance warm air generators, fans and burner controls were provided.
After drying, the corn ears are conveyed to the shelling system via discharge and collecting belt conveyors. There, the kernels are gently separated from the cobs. Cobs and side fractions are discharged separately, while the seed is transferred to the downstream processing line.
The universal seed plant is designed for different crops. After intake and pre-cleaning, the product can either be stored temporarily in a rectangular silo plant or fed directly into the fine cleaning line.
For corn, an additional grading line is integrated. It separates the product into several fractions and transfers them to box filling. This allows different kernel sizes to be separated precisely and prepared for further use.
Depending on product and process target, the cleaned seed can be directed to bulk loading, box or big bag filling, or to seed treating. For seed treatment, a continuous Niklas seed treater with electronic control, flow weighing and treating liquid dosing was provided. The treated seed can then be filled into big bags.
A high-performance aspiration and dedusting system captures dust at all relevant process points. The entire plant is operated via a central control system with process visualization and is designed for future expansion.
