Abstract
To improve the milling condition of brown rice a continuous type conditioning equipment was developed. To validate the performance of this machine the experimental operation was done at Sa-cheon RPC(Rice Processing Complex) using short grain rough. The initial moisture contents of brown rice were 15.0∼16.5%(w.b) and the flow rate of brown rice passing through the conditioner were 4,370kg per hour. The moisture content differences of brown rice between conditioned and non-conditioned were showed within 0.5%(w.b) This results means that the water injected to brown rice were absorbed to the surface of brown rice evenly. The moisture contents of conditioned treated milled rice were showed slightly higher than that of non-conditioned ones but it was considered that the conditioning process did not affected the weight increasing of milled rice by water supply. For initial moisture contents of 15.0∼16.5%(wb) brown rice it was found that the proper water supply rate was 0.115(cc-water)/(kg·%-brown rice) and the increments of whole rice were 2.2% compared to the non-conditioned ones. it was considered that the conditioning process did not influenced the whiteness of milled rice because the whiteness differences between conditioned and non-conditioned milled rice were negligible. About 18% of electric power which drives the abrasive type rice milling machine was saved at 0.115(cc-water)/(kg·%-brown rice) of water supply rate.