Mega Dryers • 316-729-5374 • http://www.megadryers.com
For many years, rice handlers in the United States have operated by two rules of thumb, when it comes to drying their product.
“It’s a fragile commodity in terms of the amount of heat it can handle. If you apply too much heat at once, the kernel can be damaged and degrade the rice,” says Sid Sheets, general manager of Kittler Construction, a family-owned GSI dealerhip in Carlisle, AR (501-690-0220). Kittler Construction maintains a grain elevator for a sister company, K&K Farm Service outside of Carlisle, a licensed grain dealer.
Kittler had been using an old modified corn dryer to dry rice in two or three passes. Typically, the dryer removed about 2% of moisture per pass. With that dryer starting to wear out, Sheets had been researching a replacement dryer.
He learned about Mega Rice Dryers from industry consultant Mitch Golleher. The company, based in Argentina, has been selling dryers throughout South America but was looking for someone to partner with for North American rice dryer sales.
After visits with Marcelo Valfiorani one of the owners of Mega, and Mega U.S. representative Ricardo Reggeti, Kittler Construction agreed to set up a Mega Dryer model at the elevator in Carlisle.
Sheets actually went to Argentina to view the dryer’s performance and was impressed.
He reports that Mega Rice Dryers early in the summer of 2017 sent a propane-fired model rated at 1,500 bph with five points of removal via shipping containers to Carlisle. Kittler Construction’s crew assembled the dryer on-site, and it has been drying the new crop of rice since August.
According to Sheets and company literature, a number of dryer features work together to bring just enough heat to bear drying rice in a single pass while preserving the rice milling quality.
The Mega drying system is called a “mixed flow” system, because it combines the advantages of the column and baffles drying systems in a single drying unit.
In this type of system, the rice goes down the column without perforated sheets, and the column has a series of half baffles inside. This combination generates a zig-zag motion in the grain, which is accompanied by air at a high temperature in sections of the columns. This is followed by a zone of tempering, during which there is no air circulation inside the grain mass, followed by another stream of hot air passing through the grain.
These flashes of heat followed by tempering occur several times as the rice flows down the dryer columns. The tempering periods, in particular, serve to minimize any damage to the rice.
The mixed flow also reduces the resistance of air flow through the column resulting in lower energy consumption.
During the drying process, some of the light particles that come off of the grain fall directly onto a collection hopper, while others are removed via aspiration. This prevents the formation of bindings that would block part or all of the column and removes a potential ignition source.
The speed of the rice flow through the dryer, and therefore drying capacity, is controlled through an exclusive Mega discharge system. The simple turning of a knob increases or reduces the speed of discharge.
When Sheets spoke to Grain Journal early in September, the Arkansas rice harvest was a third of the way done, and the new dryer had processed about 120,000 bushels of rice.
“We’re hoping for about 300,000 bushels before harvest is complete,” he comments, noting that he’s pleased with the dryer’s performance so far and that propane consumption actually has been lower than with the old dryer.
He also likes the quiet operation. “You can stand right next to it and have a conversation,” Sheets says. “The cleanliness is unreal, no dust or screenings. And studies we’ve done show excellent rice quality.”
Reprinted from Grain Journal Sept/Oct 2018 Issue
