Roller mill

Roller mills are mills that use cylindrical rollers, either in opposing pairs or against flat plates, to crush or grind various materials, such as grain, ore, gravel, plastic, and others. Roller grain mills are an alternative to traditional millstone arrangements in gristmills. Roller mills for rock complement other types of mills, such as ball mills and hammermills, in such industries as the mining and processing of ore and construction aggregate; cement milling; and recycling.

Producing wheat flour

To produce refined (white) wheat flour,^[1] grain is usually tempered, i.e. moisture added to the grain, before milling, to optimize milling efficiency. This softens the starchy "endosperm" portion of the wheat kernel, which will be separated out in the milling process to produce what is known to consumers as white flour. The addition of moisture also stiffens the bran and ultimately reduces the energy input required to shatter the kernel, while at the same time avoiding the shattering of bran and germ particles to be separated out in this milling process by sieving or sifting.

The endosperm portion of the kernel makes up about 80% of the volume and is desirable because the products produced by this white flour are often considered to have milder flavor, smoother texture, and, in the case of bread, greater volume. The balance of the kernel is composed of the bran and the germ which tend to be coarser. With the invention of the roller milling system in the late 19th century, the bran and the germ were able to be removed, dramatically improving the appeal of baked products to the public.

The moistened grain is first passed through the series of break rollers, then sieved to separate out the fine particles that make up white flour. The balance are intermediate particles of endosperm (otherwise known as product middling or farina) and coarse particles of bran and germ. The middling then makes multiple passes through the reduction rolls, and is again sieved after each pass to maximize extraction of white flour from the endosperm, while removing coarser bran and germ particles.

To produce whole wheat flour, 100% of the bran and germ must be reintroduced to the white flour that the roller milling system was originally designed to separate it from. Therefore, these elements are first ground on another mill (usually a pin mill). These finer bran and germ fractions are then reintroduced to the endosperm (white flour) to produce whole wheat flour made of 100% of the kernel of wheat.

Types

Two-roller mills Two-roller mills are the simplest variety, in which the material is crushed between two rollers before it continues on to its final destination. The spacing between these two rollers can be adjusted by the operator. Thinner spacing usually leads to that material being crushed into smaller pieces.

Four-roller mills Four-roller mills have two sets of rollers. When using a four-roller mill to mill grain, the grain first goes through rollers with a rather wide gap, which separates the seed from the husk without much damage to the husk, but leaves large grits. Flour is sieved out of the cracked grain, and then the coarse grist and husks are sent through the second set of rollers, which further crush the grist without damaging the crusts. Similarly, there are three-roller mills, in which one of the rollers is used twice.

Five- and six-roller mills Six-roller mills have three sets of rollers. When using this type of mill on grain, the first set of rollers crush the whole kernel, and its output is divided three ways: Flour immediately is sent out the mill, grits without a husk proceed to the last roller, and husk, possibly still containing parts of the seed, go to the second set of rollers. From the second roller flour is directly output, as are husks and any possible seed still in them, and the husk-free grits are channeled into the last roller. Five-roller mills are six-roller mills in which one of the rollers performs double duty.

Gristmill conversion

In the 19th century roller mills were adapted to grist mills before replacing them. The mill used either steel or porcelain rollers.^[2] Between the years 1865 and 1872, the Hungarian milling industry upgraded and expanded the use of stone mills combined with roller mills in a process known as Hungarian high milling. Hungarian hard wheat so milled was claimed as integral to the "First in the world" success of the Vienna Bakery of the 1867 Paris Exposition.^[3]

Other applications

Specialized for the high production of superfine pyrophyllite powder making in glass fiber industry
Specialized for the high production of gangue powder making in coal industry
Specialized for the high production of various of chemical raw material powder making in the chemical industry.

Working principle

While working, motor drives the hanger of the grinding roller to rotate through V pulley and centre bearing. The roller, which is hung by bearing and pendulum shaft, will roll along the inner circle of the roll ring while the hanger is rotating. A dust removal blower will generate negative pressure at the inlet and outlet of the grinder to prevent dust and radiating the heat in the machine.

History

Roller mills first appeared in the Indian subcontinent, where they were used as sugar mills by the 17th century. The Indian roller mills used the principle of rollers as well as worm gearing.^[4]

References

↑ Bass, E.J. (1988). Y. Pomeranz, ed. Wheat Chemistry and Technology Vol. II Chapter 1: Wheat flour milling. American Association of Cereal Chemists. pp. 1–69. ISBN 0-913250-73-2.
↑ Flour Milling History What Makes Bread Rise?. oldrecipebook.com. Accessed 2010-11-26
↑ Eben Norton Horsford (1875). Report on Vienna bread. Washington: Government Printing Office. pp. 75–76. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
↑ Irfan Habib (2011), Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500, page 53, Pearson Education

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