Wheat Starch Installation in Iran

At the beginning of the year, Westfalia Separator supplied a wheat starch and gluten extraction installation for Alvand Processing Industries in Iran. Alvand Processing Industries is based in the Hamadan, to the South West of Teheran. It has been operating a potato starch installation at this location for the past three years. The operation also comprises two wheat mills and a pasta production facility.

Westfalia Separator is responsible for the entire wet process of this project from the point at which the flour is received. It includes belt scale and dough processing with 3-phase decanters, starch washing installation with a combination of fibre screens, two 3-phase separators, a hydrocyclone, a clarifier to guarantee minimum use of fresh water right up to, and a liquefaction installation for pre-treating the effluent upstream of the GEA Wiegand condenser.

The advantage of the Westfalia Separator wet process is that the wheat meal is separated into A-starch, gluten and the pentosane fraction with the aid of a 3-phase decanter. A particularly important aspect in the process is the very early separation of the pentosane content from the gluten to optimise the gluten yield. This, together with an inline mixer and high-pressure pump, is the only way that a maximum yield of protein (gluten) of approx. 95 percent can be achieved.

The main product, gluten and glucose syrup, is sold into the Iranian food industry and some goes for export. The by-product mixture can be used as animal feed, and is equivalent to the normal ”corn gluten feed” from corn starch production. The new installation will be commissioned at the end of 2006.