PRODUCTION PROCESS OF NIXTAMALIZED MAIZE FLOUR, NIXTAMALIZING THE MAIZE FRACTIONS SEPARATELY WITHOUT PRODUCING NEJAYOTE
20210244052 · 2021-08-12
Inventors
Cpc classification
B02C9/04
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B02C4/44
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B02C11/08
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
B02C11/08
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
Abstract
The present invention “Production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote”, considers the integration of the processes: Semi-humid milling of the maize (fractionated degerm), extruding of the maize endosperm and milling-instant dehydration of the different nixtamalized and extruded maize fractions, has as novelty the way in which the nixtamalization process is carried out and the objective is to provide a nixtamalized maize flour production system that reduces the residues from the maize grain and completely eliminating nejayote production.
Claims
1. Process of nixtamalized maize flour production, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote characterized in that it comprises the following stages: a) Clean the grains (1): In this stage, the maize grains pass between magnets, they're then winnowed, consecutively they're vacuumed, subsequently they're destoned, finally a color selection is done so that, afterwards, the clean maize grains are pass to the hydrate the grains stage. b) Hydrate the grains (2): In this stage, water is spread over the clean grains by spraying and they're continuously mixed to then move to the polish stage. c) Polish (3): In this stage of the process, the hydrated grains are polished and rested by a degerminator or grain polishing machine which polishes and separates the grain in two parts, the first one that is composed by fibers, pericarp, parts of the germ, and dark flours which we will call fiber fractions, the second part are the polished grains and endosperms which we will call endosperms, afterwards they pass to the stage of dry fiber fractions. d) Dry fibers fractions (4): The fiber fractions are dried with a stream of hot air at a temperature range of 90° C. to 120° C. Afterwards, the fiber fractions pass to the sift fiber fractions stage. e) Sift fibers fractions (5): the dry fiber fraction is sifted to seperate the pericarp and germ from the dark flours. The particles left on top of the sieve with a sieve opening range of 0.71 mm to 0.85 mm are the pericarp and gem, while the dark flours fractions are the ones that pass through. Afterwards, the particles that pass through the mesh pass to the nixtamalize stage and the particles left on top of the mesh pass to the mill stage. f) Mill (6): The pericarp and germ are milled in a hammer mill and sieve so that 95% of the particles pass through a sieve with a sieve opening of 0.25 mm. The milled pericarp and germ will be called milled fibers fraction, afterwards the milled fibers pass to the nixtamalize stage, while the endosperms of stage c) pass to the hydrate endosperms stage. g) Hydrate endosperms (7): In this stage, water is spread over the endosperms by spraying and continuously mixing, continuedly they're left to rest for a maximum time of one hour, once this time has passed, they pass to the degerm stage. h) Degerm (8): The germ is separated from the polished hydrated endosperms and the pericarp from the polished grains, that still have it, using a degerminator, forming a mix of flours, germ, and differently sized endosperms. After this stage, they pass to the mill in BCH roller mill and sift stage. i) Mill in BCH roller mill and sift (9): In this stage, the endosperms and the flours and germ mixture are passed through banks of BCH roller mills, then the endosperms, flours mixture and germs is sifted in two parts: the first are endosperms of uniform size and the second are flours mixture, endosperms of non-uniform size and germs, this second part will be called fine flours fraction, later on the endosperms of uniform size pass to the stage of nixtamalize endosperms of uniform size and the fine flours fraction pass to the stage of nixtamalize. j) Nixtamalize (10): The fine flours fractions, the milled fibers fractions and the dark flours are mixed, an aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide with 0.1% to 0.15% based on the weight of the milled fibers fractions and dark and fine flours is hydrated by spraying at a temperature of 80° C. to 85° C., the mixture then remains at a temperate range of 40° C. to 45° C. and a continuous mixing is maintained, until reaching a humidity percentage between 25% and 32%, subsequently they're left to rest from one to two hours at a temperature between 40° C. and 45° C. After this step the endosperms of uniform size are passed to the nixtamalize endosperms of uniform size stage. k) Nixtamalize endosperms of uniform size (11): A solution of calcium hydroxide of 0.1% to 0.15% in weight in relation to the endosperms of uniform size is hydrated by spraying at a temperature range of 80° C. to 85° C., it's then left to rest for a period of two to four hours at a temperature of 40° C. to 45° C. Afterwards the nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size is extruded. l) Extrude (12): The nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size is subjected to a double screw extruder in a range of its capacity between 80 to 90%, at a input material temperature of 40° C. to 50° C. and an output material temperature of 60° C. to 70° C. After the nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size is extruded, it's cut and rapidly cooled at temperatures lower than 60° C. The nixtamalized, extruded and rapidly cooled endosperm of uniform size will be called extrudate fractions. Afterwards they pass to the mix stage. m) Mix (13): The extrudate fraction is combined in a 65% to 75% proportion with the mixed nixtamalized flours in a 35% to 25% proportion respectively. Once mixed, the fractions pass to the stage of mill and instantly dehydrate. n) Mill and instantly dehydrate (14): In this stage, the mix is milled in a micro pulverizer mill. Afterwards, it's instantly dehydrated with a flux of warm air, this hot air is transported through a in which the diameter is reduced decreasing its pressure and increasing its velocity, afterwards the section where the diameter is reduced meets a section where the pipe diameter increases and the air expands causing an instant drying of the milled mixture. Consecutively the milled dehydrated mixture passes to the cool stage. o) Cool (15): The cooling is carried out until the milled dehydrated mixture reaches a temperature between 30° C. and 35° C. by means of pneumatic transport using air at room temperature. Afterwards it passes to the sift stage. p) Add milled germ and pericarp (16): In the event that the milled fibers fraction passes to the add milled germ and pericarp stage, milled germ and pericarp is added by means of a volumetric dispenser or gravimetric, between 0% to 75% of the total of the milled germ and pericarp. Afterwards it passes to the sift stage. q) Sift (17): The milled, dehydrated, and cooled mixture is sifted, the sifting yields two fractions: the fine fraction and the coarse fraction. The fine fraction is the nixtamalized maize flour, while the fraction that does not comply with the granulometric specifications will be called the coarse fraction and is sent to the remill stage r) Remill (18): The coarse factions that are separated by the sieve are sent to be remilled in a micro pulverizer mill and afterwards are sent to the sift stage, the nixtamalized flours that comply with the granulometric properties pass to the store stage. s) Store (19): The flours that are separated by the sieve are sent to be stored in a hopper or/and packaged in different presentations such as sacks.
2. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote with clam 1 characterized in that in stage b) Hydrate the grains, water is spread over the grains to reach a uniform humidity between 14% and 20%, afterwards it's left to rest for a period of time between one and ten hours.
3. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage c) polish: the hydrated and rested grains can also be polished by a grain polishing machine.
4. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage c) polish: the hydrated and rested grains are separated in two parts, the first one composed of fibers, pericarp, germ parts and dark flours that represent a range of 20% to 35% of the total of the grain, while the second fraction are the polished grains and endosperms that represent between 65% and 80% of the total of the grain.
5. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage c) polish, the operations of polishing and hydrated and rested grains separation is carried out by means of one of the following equipment: degerminator, grain polishing machine.
6. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage e) sift fibers fractions, the sift fibers fractions stage may be omitted and the fractions pass directly to the mill stage.
7. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage f) mill, the milled fibers fraction may also go to the add milled germ and pericarp stage.
8. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage f) mill, in the event that the milled fibers fraction pass to the nixtamalize stage between 25% and 100% of the milled pericarp and germ total will be added.
9. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage f) mill, the milled fibers fraction may be added at the same time to the nixtamalize stage and add milled germ and pericarp stage.
10. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage g) hydrate endosperms, water is spread over the grains to uniformly reach a humidity percentage of 14% to 16%.
11. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage h) degerm, the degerminator may use a sifting mesh that is cylindric or conic.
12. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage i) mill in BCH roller mill and sift, the endosperms of uniform size comply with the following granulometric specifications: with a sieve opening of 5.66 mm a maximum of 3% is retained, with a sieve opening of 4.75 mm a minimum of 25% and a maximum of 40% is retained, with a sieve opening of 4 mm between 50% to 65% is retained, with a sieve opening of 3.5 mm from 2% up to 8% is retained, and with a sieve opening of 3.35 mm it's a 1% and has a humidity range of 8% to 12%.
13. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage i) mill in BCH roller mill and sift, the fine flours have a particle size that passes through a sieve opening of 0.25 mm in, at least, a 95%.
14. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage j) nixtamalize, the fine flours fractions, the milled fibers fractions, and dark flours are mixed in the following relation: for every 1 gram of fine milled flours, 1 gram of milled fibers fractions and 0.5 grams of dark flours will be added, the humidity range in this mixture is of 6% to 10%.
15. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage k) nixtamalize endosperms of uniform size, the endosperms of uniform size have a humidity range of 25% to 32%.
16. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage l) extrude, the extruder has three steps with the following temperatures: from 40° C. to 50° C. in the first zone, from 50° C. to 60° C. in the second zone and from 60° C. to 70° C. in the third zone, and with an output hole size in the die of 40% to 70% of the equivalent area of the output section of the extruder.
17. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage l) extrude, the humidity of the extrudate fractions is at a range of 25% to 32%
18. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage l) extrude, the extrudate of the nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size is cut in small pieces of 0.1 mm to 7 mm, using a four-blade cutter.
19. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage l) extrude, the extrudate of the nixtamalized endosperms of uniform size can be cooled by means of a pneumatic process, cooling tunnel or ambient ventilation.
20. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage m) mix: the humidity of the mix of mixed nixtamalized flours and extrudate fractions is at a range between 24% to 30%.
21. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage n) mill and instantly dehydrate, the milled mixture is dehydrated with a flux of warm air at a temperature range between 200° C. and 400° C.
22. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage n) mill and instantly dehydrate, the milled mixture is dehydrated with a flux of warm air until reaching a humidity range of 7% to 11%.
23. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage q) sift, the milled, dehydrated, and cooled mixture is sifted, and has the following granulometric properties: with a sieve opening of 0.60 mm no particle is retained, with a sieve opening of 0.354 mm a maximum of 1% is retained, with a sieve opening of 0.250 mm a maximum of 15% is retained, with a sieve opening of 0.177 mm a maximum of 80% is retained, and with a sieve opening of 0.150 mm a maximum of 6% passes through.
24. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage q) sift, a nixtamalized flour with the following characteristics is produced: dry color from 30% to 100% reflectance and humid color from 20% to 70% reflectance, while the humidity ranges between 6% to 12%, and pH ranges between 5 to 7.
25. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage q) sift, a flour with an efficiency of 1.7 kg to 2.5 kg of flour is produced.
26. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage s) store, the flours that are separated by the sieve are sent to be stored in different presentations of sacks of 20 kg or 22.7 kg.
27. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage s) store, the flours that are separated by the sieve are sent to be stored in different presentations of super-sacks of 500 kg or 1000 kg.
28. The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote in conformity with claim 1 characterized in that in stage s) store, the flours that are separated by the sieve are sent to be stored in different presentations of packages of 1 kg or 2 kg.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
[0020]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0021] The production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without generating nejayote is represented in
Use Cases:
[0041] Following the production process of nixtamalized maize flour, nixtamalizing the maize fractions separately without producing nejayote, in the stage a) clean the grains, 1000 kg of white maize grains were cleaned to which metals were removed by passing it through two magnets, afterwards it was winnowed and vacuumed to eliminate junk, coarse and fine impurities. Afterwards, the clean maize grains pass to the stage of hydrate the grains. In a conditioner, the grains are hydrated by spraying water and are continuously mixed to reach a uniform humidity of 14% to 20%, then they are left to rest for at least one hour, to the pass to the stage of polish. The hydrated and rested grains were polished using a polishing-degerminator machine. Two fractions were obtained: 1. Polished grains and endosperms (endosperms), 2. Mixture of pericarp, germ and dark flours (fibers fraction), the fibers fraction is dried in a stream of hot air (temperature of 90° C. to 110° C.) at a maximum of 10% humidity and it's milled in a hammer mill and it's sifted to achieve a granulometry such that 95% of the particles pass through a sieve opening of 0.25 mm. The polished grains and endosperm were hydrated, at this stage water was spread over the polished grains by spraying as they were continuously mixed to achieve a humidity of 14% to 16%. Afterwards, the polished grains and hydrates endosperms were degermed, a polishing-degerminator machine was used. Then the polished grains, endosperms, flours mixture, and germs were separated. To continue with the mill in BCH roller mill and sift stage, in this stage the endosperms of uniform size and flours mixture, and endosperms of non-uniform size and germs were separated, this second part will be called fine flours fraction. The endosperms of uniform size had the following granulometric specification: with a sieve opening of 5.66 mm (US #3.5) a maximum of 3% was retained, with a sieve opening of 4.75 mm (US #4) a minimum of 25% and a maximum of 40% was retained, with a sieve opening of 4 mm (US #5) between 50% to 65% was retained, with a sieve opening of 3.35 mm (US #6) between 2% and 8% was retained, and a maximum of 1% passes through a (US #6) and had a humidity of 11.9%. Then the fibers, pericarp, parts of germ and dark flours were milled using a hammer mill until reaching a granulometry of the following characteristics: with a sieve opening of 0.25 mm a maximum of 3% was retained. After milling the fibers fractions the fine flours, milled fibers, and dark flours were nixtamalized, they were mixed in the following relation: for every 1 gram of milled fine flours, 0.5 grams of dark flours and 1 gram of milled fibers fractions were added, the mixture had a 7.4% of humidity. Consecutively, a solution of calcium hydroxide with 0.1% in weight was hydrated by spraying at a temperature of 80° C. to 85° C., a continuous mix was maintained until reaching a humidity of 26.7%, it was then left to rest one to two hours at a temperature of 40° C. to 45° C. Consecutively, the endosperm of uniform size was nixtamalized, it was hydrated by spraying with a solution of calcium hydroxide of 0.1% at a temperature of 80° C. to 85° C., it was then left to rest for two hours at a temperature of 40° C. to 45° C. The nixtamalized endosperms of uniform size had a humidity of 26.41%. Afterwards, the nixtamalized endosperm of uniform size was extruded in a double screw extruder at 85% capacity at an input temperature of 41° C. and output temperature of 65° C. The extruder had three steps with the following temperatures: 50° C., 60° C., and 70° C. As the extrudate came out of the extruder, it was then cut in small piece of 0.1 mm to 7 mm and it was rapidly cooled by pneumatic conveying using room temperature air. The humidity of the extrudate was 26.16%. Afterwards, the fine flours and milled fibers fractions and the extrudate fractions were mixed in the following manner: the extrudate fraction in a 75% proportion, while the fine flours and milled fibers fractions in a 25% proportion. Once mixed, the humidity of the fine flours and milled fibers fractions and extrudate fractions was 25.6%. The mixture was milled in micro pulverizer mills, it was then instantly dehydrated, with a flow of hot air at a temperature of 300° C. and the air moving according to the Venturi effect. Consecutively, the milled and dehydrated mixture was cooled by means of pneumatic conveying, then the mixture passes to the sifting process where the flour has the following granulometric characteristics: with a sieve opening of 0.60 mm it retained no particles, with a sieve opening of 0.354 mm a maximum of 1% was retained, with a sieve opening of 0.250 mm (US #60) a maximum of 15% was retained, with a mesh of 0.177 mm (US #80) a maximum of 80% was retained, and with a sieve opening of 0.150 mm (US #100) a maximum of 6% passed through. The flour that did not comply with the granulometry was sent to the remill stage and was integrated to the sifting. The color characteristics of the produced flour were the following: dry color of 84% reflectance and humid color of 40%, while the humidity was at 7% and pH at 6.3. The efficiency of the flour to dough obtained adding water to one kilogram of flour was 2.3 kilograms of dough.