From potatoes to starch

  1. Potato delivery – potatoes – Lyckeby Amylex’s raw material – are delivered by potato growers according to an exact Schedule.
  2. Soil-remover machine – the part of the soil that is wrapped around the potato tuber is removed by the soil remover.
  3. Weighing and sampling – Deliveries from individual suppliers are weighed and the starch content and impurities levels are then determined. These two factors together with the total weight of delivery determine the price paid to suppliers.
  4. Separation of stones and light particles – Potatoes are carried by flowing water to the washing section. All parts heavier (stones) than potatoes are removed using the stone separator.
  5. Potato washing – Soil from the potatoes is removed in washing drums placed in water tanks.
  6. Rasps – Clean potatoes are temporarily stored in hoppers above rasps and from here dosed into rasps where they are grated by blades fixed to rotation drums. After grating, the potato tuber starch is separated from the potato cell walls.
  7. Centrifugal sieves/pulp separation – Grated potatoes are pumped into the machine with rotation sieves. These connected devices are called fibre washes. The fibre is separated from the tuber juice and starch. Starch is rinsed from the fibre suspension using tuber juice from potatoes.
  8. Cyclones – tuber juice separators – Tuber juice is separated in two steps. The first step takes place in hydro-cyclones where starch is concentrated and the viscose suspension is formed.
  9. Horizontal belt filters – The second step occurs on the belt filters where the filter starch cake is made of viscose suspension. Water is sucked through the filter cake and most of the starch (97 – 98%) is removed from the tuber juice.
  10. Hydro-cyclones – The last process of starch refining takes place in hydro-cyclones. Starch is separated from the remaining tuber juice and fibre by repeating two steps: concentrating and washing. Water is used to refine flow in the opposite direction of the line.
  11. Vacuum filters – At first starch suspension is dried on rotating belt covered with a net. Water is removed by vacuum, with the obtained product containing around 36% water.
  12. Drying and cyclones – The final drying stage is performed in a hot air dryer at about 160°C. After this starch contains 20% water. Air and steam are separated from the starch. The starch is then cooled before being transported to storage silos.
  13. Packing – Because the production of starch is concentrated over a short period of 3-4 months in the autumn but distributed throughout the year, starch must be immediately packed into paper bags or bulk bags and stored in clean warehouses.

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Incorporated in the Companies Register kept by the Regional Court in Plzeň, Section B, File 387.