Grain Technology
Healthy Grain through Quality Monitoring
In modern grain technology, our focus is on “Healthy Grain”. To reach this target not only are technologically “best in class” products needed, but also a quality monitoring to maximize the automation level of the total process chain. For this, PETKUS uses the optical competence of the Röber R&D unit, the machine automation of the Group’s product engineering division and the process automation of the process control division. The cooperation of these technology competencies is vital to enabling the evermore important traceability of seed and grain within the conditioning and processing chain.
Careful and precise preparation, processing and handling
What ends up on the plate as the basis of a healthy and balanced diet must be carefully handled, prepared and processed with technical precision. Products such as flour, bran, semolina and coarse meal provide the basis for various bread and bakery products and are important for many other foods such as pizza, pasta, sauces and soups, confectionery, ready meals and baby food. Annually, approximately 300 million tonnes of flour are produced for daily baking and pasta production in thousands of mills. In Germany alone, approximately 7 million tonnes from nearly 300 mills are produced each year.
Broad range of product usage
The increasing importance of renewable raw materials can also be felt in the milling industry. Typically used as industrial flours and milling products in the baking industry, grains are also finding use in bio-ethanol plants and even more so in the starch industry. Approximately 45 million tonnes of starch are produced worldwide each year. In Germany, based on the use of potatoes, corn and wheat there are about 1.5 million tonnes produced. When milling wheat, high quality gluten (wheat gluten) and starch can be extracted. The starch is used in a variety of ways either as pure or modified starch. Through special refinement, products such as liquid sugars (for the beverage industry) as well as high-quality amino acids (as feed additives) can be made from starch.
Oil extraction and refinery construction
PETKUS is successively expanding its expertise in oil extraction and refinery construction. The PETKUS Competence Centre Balkan caused a stir when it brought an in-house development, the Rotary Husker for Sunflowers “TS Evolution” to the market. Borislav Umićević, Head of the Department for oil extraction and refinery at PETKUS Balkans said, “Our knowledge base and the fact that we can design, coordinate and build turnkey systems make us very unique in the industry”. Borislav and Marco Umićević belong to the few experts in the field, who not only have a complete understanding of the entire process chain, from cultivation to processing and oil refinery but who can also lay the foundations for further technological innovations.