Hydrocyclone Separation of Dry‐Milled Corn

ABSTRACT Corn milled to <1 mm using a screen mill was sieved and the particles >590 μm were soaked for 1 hr in solutions with a range of glucose concentration providing liquid specific gravities above and below that of the lighter fraction (corn germ). A suspension of these particles was pumped through a hydrocyclone to separate the germ particles and to rinse watersoluble compounds from the corn. The specific gravity of the hydrocyclone streams (suspensions), as well as liquid phase (after solids settling) was measured, and product compositions and particle sizes were determined. This work shows that a germ‐enriched fraction of corn ground to <1 mm, can be separated with a hydrocyclone. To enable computer simulation of the corn‐treatment process, the experimental data was used to construct a two‐component model of the hydrocyclone separation of the milled corn. In the model, the milled and sieved corn is virtually separated into germ and endosperm streams that are fed to paired hydrocyclone models. Hydrocyclone bypassing streams that simulate particles entrained to the contrary outlet (underflow for germ and overflow for endosperm particles) were included in the simulation to bring the model into agreement with the experimental product compositions.