Effect of Blade Distance and Output Rate on Rice Quality in a Modified Blade-type Milling Machine

Studies show that excessive rotation of rice, when the grains revolve inside the milling chamber, increase the breakage. Ease of grain movement in the milling chamber could minimize this problem by utilizing screw conveyor at the first part of rotor. In this study the rotor of a conventional milling was equipped with a screw conveyor. The effects of two rotor types (modified and conventional rotors), three output rates (412, 654 and 915 kg/h) and three blade distances from the agitator (11, 12 and 13mm) were examined on indices of rice quality using a split-split plot design. In this experiment, the percentage of whole white rice and breakage, degree of milling and milling performance index were either measured or calculated. Results showed that only the effect of blade distance on percentage of breakage was significant whereas the effect of feed rate on all measured parameters was significant. In addition, the interaction effects of rotor type and blade distance, rotor type and feed rate on percentage of whole white rice and breakage were significant, respectively. The milling performance index showed that the best conditions for both rotors can be obtained at output rate of 412kg/hr and 11or 12mm blade distance from the agitator. For this adjustment, the average of percentage of breakage in the modified and conventional rotors were 20.5 and 23, respectively.