Technology of wheat

By: Dr. AK Pandey

 Introduction
• Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a
cereal grain which is a worldwide staple food.
• The many species of wheat together make up the
genus Triticum; the most widely grown common
wheat (T. aestivum).
 Introduction
Types of wheat
• Wheat is primarily classified according to its growing season:
– Winter wheat – Planted in the fall, harvested in the spring
– Spring wheat – Planted in the spring, harvested in late summer or
early fall.
• Beyond the growing season, wheat is further categorized in
following 6 types on the basis of their hardness (hard/soft),
color (red/white) and shape.
• Hard red winter
• Hard red spring
• Soft red winter
• Durum (Hardest wheat) 1. Triticum aestivum (common hard wheat)
• Hard white wheat 2. Triticum durum (durun wheat)
• Soft white wheat 3. Triticum compactum (soft white wheat)
 Milling of wheat
• The objective of wheat milling is to grind cleaned and
tempered wheat by separating the outer husk from
the internal endosperm.
• Early processing of wheat was accomplished by
means of hand grinding, grinding stones, or a mortar
and pestle.
• Later on wheat was milled between two circular
millstones, one fixed and the other mobile and
rotating. Recent technology of wheat milling involves
metal cylinders or rollers for milling purposes.
 Milling quality characteristics of wheat
• The term “quality” is often used in a very broad sense to
define the overall potential for wheat to be successfully
transformed into certain end products.

• The grading activity is carefully carried out by each

country that produces and exports wheat: further
information about the criteria and standards adopted for
grain classification, as well as the classes and the range of
each quality parameter are provided by dedicated
Governmental Institutions, Agencies or Commissions
 Milling quality characteristics of wheat
• To obtain the maximum milling yield, millers ideally
look for a wheat that is clean, uniform in size, and
free from any contamination and physical or
weather-induced damage, representing different
types of defects.

• A standard of milling quality universally accepted by

the milling industry is test weight.
 Milling quality characteristics of wheat
Test weight
• Obtained by weighing the grains which fill a cylinder of
fixed volume and expressed in units of lb/bu or kg/hl.
• Test weight provides a measure of the bulk density and
compactness of the grains.
• It is greatly influenced by environment, kernel
moisture, and protein content, as well as by kernel
shape and size.
• For this reason, a minimum value for test weight is
generally required as primary specification in wheat
grading and classification.
 Milling quality characteristics of wheat
Thousand kernel weight (TKW)
• The weight in grams of 1000 kernels and provides a
measure of grain size and density.
• Test weight and TKW measure different features of the
grain.
• While the former can be a reflection of the soundness of
the grain, and therefore a high test weight may be expected
when the grain is sound and undamaged due to good
weather conditions, kernel weight will be a measure of
average kernel size and thus larger kernels, resulting from
correct grain ripening, are expected to have a greater
endosperm to bran ratio.
 Milling quality characteristics of wheat
Grain Hardness
• A parameter strongly linked to genotype, represents
another important aspect of quality, being directly
related to the force required and the energy
consumed during grinding and milling.
• As it strongly affects grain tempering and milling
performances, hardness represents a determinant
parameter in creating homogeneous grain batches.
• Hard kernels are more resistant to reduction in size
than soft kernels and require more energy to be
crushed.
Milling quality characteristics of wheat
Grain Hardness
• The textural differences between hard and soft
wheat are determined by the presence of specific
low molecular weight (LMW) proteins, the
puroindolines.
• The presence of these LMW proteins, occurring in
soft varieties, promotes a weak adhesion among the
starch granules and the protein matrix, favoring
endosperm breakage
 Milling quality characteristics of wheat
Chemical characteristics
• Chemical characteristics (moisture, protein, and ash
content) of wheat are not generally included in
grading standards, but they are universally reputed
to greatly influence the technological quality of
wheat.
 Milling of wheat
• Wheat is commonly consumed in the form of flour
obtained by milling the grain while a small quantity is
converted into breakfast foods, such as wheat flakes,
puffed wheat and shredded wheat.

• Two types of milling process are;

1. Traditional milling
2. Modern milling
 Traditional Milling of wheat
• The traditional procedure for milling wheat in India
has been stone grinding (chakki) to obtain whole
meal flour (Atta).
• This method results in 90-95% extraction rate flour
which retains almost all the nutrients of the grain
while simultaneously eliminating that part of the
grain which is most indigestible like cellulose and
phytic acid which binds and carries away minerals
Modern Milling of wheat
 Modern Milling of wheat
Wheat kernels

Storage

Cleaning

Conditioning

Milling

Storage
of flour

Dispatch
Storage silos Cleaning Milling Flour storage
(copyright and courtesy of Bühler Group)
 Modern Milling of wheat
Cleaning:
• Frequently encountered impurities include: straws, chaff,
sticks, weed seeds, other cereal grains, shrunken and broken
kernels, infected kernels, mud, dust, stones, metal objects,
etc.
• Wheat cleaning operation makes use of certain characteristics
of impurities which are different from those of wheat e.g. size
(length and width), shape, terminal velocity in the air
currents, specific gravity, magnetic and electrostatic
properties, colour, surface roughness, etc.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Cleaning:
• The grain is initially passed through a series of screens of
selected apertures that removes matter either smaller or
larger in size than the wheat kernel. Gross foreign material is
removed over a set of sieves (rubble separator).

• In gravity separator, impurities which are similar to wheat in

size but different in specific gravity are separated out. Wheat
grains are then moved on tilted screen, through which
adjusted air currents are drawn. Heavier materials such as
stones are separated and remain closer to screen, while
lighter impurities and wheat floats down the screen.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Cleaning:
• After gravity separation, series of rotating discs separators
remove impurities that are similar in diameter but different in
shape from the wheat. This rotating discs with indentations
pick-up only those wheat kernels that fit into the pockets and
allow other grains such as oats, barley to pass through.

• Dry scouring of wheat kernel removes any dirt adhering to it.

In the scorer wheat kernel is bounced against a wall, which
may be of a perforated sheet metal, a steel wire woven screen
or any emery surface.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Grain conditioning/temparing:
• The conditioning or tempering stage of the kernels is decisive
for obtaining a good milling result.
• This operation covers both the grain humidification (using a
tempering mixer) and the successive rest period so that a 2–
4% increase in water content is reached.
• This conditioning reduces the friability of the bran, which
causes it to break off as large particles, and mellows and
makes the starchy endosperm more fragile, thereby
facilitating separation between the two regions.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Grain conditioning/temparing:
• The conditioning time (which varies between 6 and more than
24–36 h) and the quantity of water used – and the way it is
added (1 or 2 tempering steps) – depend not only on the
initial humidity of the material, but above all on the degree of
hardness and vitreousness of the kernels.
• These parameters relate to the compactness with which the
starch and proteins are organized in the endosperm.
• After a rest period in the tempering bins, the caryopses have
between 15.5 and 17% humidity, which is the best condition
for milling.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling:
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling:
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling:
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling:
• The milling process involves complex types, numbers, and
combinations of operations.
• It is generally classified into three systems:
– (1) The break system, which separates the endosperm from the bran
and the germ;
– (2) The sizing and purification system, which separates and classifies
particles according to the presence of bran pieces;
– (3) The reduction system, where the large particles of endosperm are
reduced to flour
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling: Breaking system
• The wheat grain has its first breaking in the roller mills, which
are made up of a pair of cast iron chill cylinders with
corrugated surfaces that are at a set distance from each other
and turning at differential speeds towards each other.
• The breaking system has opens, cuts, and flakes the grains;
separates the endosperm from the coats; and leaves the bran
as large, flat flakes that facilitate its removal.
• As mentioned earlier, to do this, the grain must be ground
gradually (generally 4–5 subsequent breaking steps are
carried out), thus limiting the formation of flour and the
disintegration of bran at this stage.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling: Sizing/purification system
• Each breaking step is followed by sieving performed by
plansichters or sifters, which are large machines stacked inside
with numerous sieves of appropriate mesh.
• The coarse particles of endosperm are called “semolina”. Some
particles or “middlings” have various degrees of attached bran
layers, whereas others – “clean middlings”– are composed of
pure endosperm.
• These two fractions are separated using their specific gravity and
the size inside the purifiers through which an air current passes
upwards.
• The sizing rolls, formed by smooth or slightly corrugated rolls,
detach the bran pieces attached to the middlings.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling: Classification by the plansichters
• The clean middlings are sent to the reduction system, the final
stage in the milling process, which reduces the size of the
clean middlings to flour.
• The reduction system consists of a sequence of several
smooth roll mills (up to 8–12 according to the size and starch
expected damage) and associated sifters.
• The milling diagram comprises a number of these steps
(varying from company to company according to specific
requirements), finalized at ensuring that the majority of the
endosperm is converted into flour, and that most of the coats
are separated and removed as by-products.
 Modern Milling of wheat
Milling: Classification by the plansichters
• Summarizing, from each sieving step, an individual flour
stream is separated; according to the milling passage, these
intermediate streams are heterogeneous both in quantity and
chemical composition.
• The careful blending of the intermediate streams gives an
end-flour with the required refinement standards and
chemical and rheological characteristics
Modern Milling of wheat
Modern Milling of wheat
 Flour Characteristics
• Due to the high number of wheat varieties grown all
around the world and the technological innovations
in milling operations, the range of flours available
nowadays is wider than ever before.
• This makes a skilful miller able to satisfy any
customer’s requirement and demand.
 Milling yield and flour refinement
• Milling yield is expressed as number of kilograms of flour
obtained from 100 kg of cleaned and conditioned wheat
grains, and generally ranges between 74 and 76% for flour
from common wheat.
• Since the bran and germ represent approximately 20% of
the weight of the wheat grain, the actual yield in flour is
distinctly lower than its theoretical value.
• The more refined the flour, the lower the extraction rate
because during production the most external layers of the
endosperm (namely the “fine middlings”) are eliminated
together with the teguments.
 Milling yield and flour refinement
• The milling of durum wheat requires different
diagrams, characterized by a higher number of
purifiers to improve the separation of bran particles.
• Nevertheless, the yield is lower, between 68 and
72%, as semolina is mostly formed by particles larger
than 250–300 μm and contains only a minimum
amount of fine particles (less than 200 μm).
 Milling yield and flour refinement
• A widespread flour classification criterion is based on
the accuracy of the separation of the bran, known as
flour refinement.
• Several intrinsic parameters of wheat kernel (such as
hardness, test weight, moisture, ash and fiber
content) and processing variables (such as mill
diagram, setting of breaking rolls) greatly affect how
the removal of branny layers is achieved.
• Three basic flour categories from extraction rate and
refinement properties:
 Milling yield and flour refinement
• White flour: usually corresponding to 75% of the
whole wheat grain. Most of the bran and wheat germ
have been removed during milling.
• Wholemeal flour: 100% extraction yield, made from
the whole wheat grain with nothing added or taken
away.
• Brown flour: usually contains about 85% of the
original grain, some bran and germ have been
removed to extend shelf-life.