Processing
From potatoes to starch
- Potato delivery - Raw material for Lyckeby Amylex - potatoes are delivered by the potato growers according to a precise schedule.
- Soil remover - A part of the soil covering the potato tuber is removed in the soil removing machine.
- Weighing and sampling - Potato deliveries from individual suppliers are weighed and the starch content and degree of pollution are determined. Along with the overall weight of the delivery, these two factors are decisive for determining the price to be paid to the supplier.
- Separating stones and light particles - Text String, Potatoes are carried by a water flow to the washing section. In the first stage, a stone separator removes all particles heavier than potatoes, e.g. stones.
- Washing potatoes - Soil is removed from potatoes in washing drums installed in water tanks.
- Potato graters - Clean potatoes are temporarily stored in hoppers located above potato graters, from where they are fed into the graters and grated by knives installed on a rotating cylinder. After the potato tubers are grated, starch is separated from cellulose potatoes.
- Centrifugal screens, separating crushed products - Grated potatoes are transfered into a plant with rotating screens. These apparatuses are connected in series t and are known as fibre washers. The fibre is separated from tuber juice and starch. Starch is washed out from the fibre suspension with the aid of potato tuber juice.
- Cyclones - tuber juice separators - Tuber juice is removed in two steps. The first step takes place in hydrocyclones, where starch is thickened, forming a viscous suspension.
- Belt filters - The second step is performed on belt filters, where the viscous suspension forms a filter cake. Water is sucked through the filter cake and this way, the main share of tuber juice (97 - 98%) is separated from the starch.
- Hydrocyclones - Final starch refining takes place in hydrocyclones. Here, starch is separated from residual tuber juice and fibre by means of repeating two steps: thickening and washing. Water used in refining flows countercurrently to the flow of the starch.
- Vacuum filters - First, the starch suspension dries on rotating screen-covered cylinders. Water is removed by vacuum and the acquired product contains approximately 36% of water.
- Drying and cyclones - Final starch drying takes place in a hot-air dryer at a temperature of approximately 160°C. Outgoing starch contains 20% moisture. Air and steam are separated from starch. Starch is cooled before being transported to storage silos.
- Packaging - As starch manufacturing is concentrated into a short period of 3-4 months in autumn and starch is distributed during the whole year, starch has to be packed immediately into paper bags or large-size sacks and stored in clean warehouses.
From starch to dextrine
- Starch transport and storage - Starch is transported by motor vehicles. The storage silo secures operational supply for one day.
- Acidation - In an acidation tank, starch is moistened with an acid solution, the volume and type of which depend on the type of dextrin produced. The equipment works on a discontinuous basis.
- Maturation - Acidulated starch is left to mature in silos for 8 to 12 hours.
- Dextrination - Starch is initially dried in one rotating drum and then calcinized in two other drums - dextrination is the result of exposure to heat and acid. This is a continual process.
- Cooling - The dextrination reaction ends with cooling.
- Aspiration - Residual starch and dextrin are separated from air and returned back to the dextrination tower.
- Homogenisation - Continually produced dextrin is homogenised to achieve parameter balance.
- Sieving - Foreign substances are removed by sieving through screens.
- Packaging - Dextrine is packaged into paper ventilated bags or large-size sacks, and labelled with the appropriate name and quality marking based on the results of laboratory analyses.
From strach to modified starch
- Starch batching - Addition of native potato starch into the production line.
- Starch preheating and liquid chemicals addition - Starch is heated to reaction temperature. Liquid chemicals are added with water and catalyst - the dosage rate of chemicals and starch is determined by the specific product formula.
- Starch and chemicals reaction - A controlled chemical reaction takes place in the reactors and may take several hours or even days, depending on the formula.
- Free-flowing chemicals addition - After expiration of the reaction time, additional free-flowing chemicals are dosed according to the formula.
- Product grinding and screening - The end product is sieved to the specific granulation size and any conceivable larger granules are ground and returned back into the process. Therefore, it represents a waste-free environment-friendly technology.
- Storage
- Dispatch in tank trucks and in bags