Starch & Grains

We have been working in the starch industry since 1968 and provide a variety of equipment for starch production as well as the co-products - gluten and feed.

Dedert provides evaporation and drying technologies across the starch and grains industry, such as Evaporation of sweeteners, lactic acid, lysine and stillage, Flash Drying of starch, Fluid Bed Drying of germ, and Ring Drying of fiber, gluten, and other derivative products. Equipment designs are customized and scaled-up through R&D from our in-house Pilot Plant facilities based on product development, process innovation, and operational optimization.

Figure: Wheat process diagram

Starches are the most vital carbohydrates in the human diet. Starch sugars are by far the most common food ingredients and are widely used as sweeteners in many drinks and foods, including infant food grade maltodextrin. Starch applications also have significant industrial uses in the production of paper, adhesives, biodegradable plastics, and alcohols among others.

Starch is extracted from the principal starch-bearing crops such as corn, wheat, potato, rice, sorghum and tapioca. There are two main types of starches: native and modified. Modified starches offer a huge number of functional benefits to a variety of foods, beverages and nutritional products. Demand for modified starches is increasing in parallel with the rapid development of the food industry.

Many valuable co-products, including gluten meal, feed, stillage and germ, also emerge from the starch production process to offer diverse grain-based specialty products.

Typical Corn Grain Processes

There are two processes for corn processing: dry and wet milling.

Wet milling is designed to extract the highest use and value from each component of the corn kernel. The final product range is increased as the corn grains are broken down into steep water solids, germ, fiber, starch and gluten, as well as corn oil, corn gluten meal, corn germ meal, corn gluten and steep water. All are processed on Dedert equipment.

The wet milling process requires more water and sulfur dioxide in the process, and is therefore more energy intensive than dry milling.

Figure: Corn/maize wet milling process

The corn dry milling process is less versatile and less capital-intensive. In this process the corn kernels are milled into a medium-to-fine ground meal for introduction to the ethanol production process. The products of a traditional dry grind ethanol plant are fuel ethanol and Dried Distillers Grains (DDG), an animal feed product.

Dedert has been at the forefront of process technologies for starch and grain products for over 50 years and has specific expertise in drying and evaporation technologies for wet milling and dry milling processes. Changes in world market pricing have led to many challenges for producers in the starch and sugar industries. To help improve production efficiency and optimize overall profits, Dedert has developed customized solutions for flexible process management, which minimizes water and energy consumption. From stand-alone machines to complete installations, Dedert supplies the market with the key technologies for efficient production processes.

Starch & Grains

We have been working in the starch industry since 1968 and provide a variety of equipment for starch production as well as the co-products - gluten and feed.

Typical Corn Grain Processes

Interview About Dedert's Process Solutions for the European Starch Industry

Proven Solutions

Dedert Ring Dryers: FQTalks Webinar Ep. 42

Enter the Maize: Corn Starch Solutions

High-Protein DDG: Higher-Value Co-products from 1st-Generation Biofuels

Wheat Gluten Processing: From Dewatering to Ring Drying to Milling