The past several years have seen significant growth in the use of mechanical seals in the Food Processing industry. AESSEAL® products have been applied successfully to applications in each stage of the corn milling and refining process.
Wet Milling
There are several steps in this process. First, the incoming corn is inspected and cleaned, then steeped to begin breaking the starch and protein bonds. The next step is a coarse grind to separate the germ from the rest of the kernel. The remaining slurry; consisting of fibre, starch and protein, is finely ground and screened to separate the fibre from the starch and protein. The starch is separated from the remaining slurry in hydrocyclones. The starch can then be converted to syrup, or made into several other products through a fermentation process.
Refining
After the starch is cleaned and separated it can be sold in its raw state or it is further refined and converted to glucose syrup. Starch slurry is converted to glucose syrup and refined to different grades of sweetness. The refining of corn syrup is a complex process requiring maximum equipment reliability and enhanced productivity gains are possible through the selection of properly designed AESSEAL® components.
