Modern-day plants rely on starch cookers for so many applications. Traditional starch cookers do not offer the capabilities, cost-effectiveness, and durability that plants are looking for that industrial starch cookers do.
An industrial starch cooker is used for the chemical processes in starch wet milling, grain ethanol production, and other starch processing applications within the manufacturing industry.
There are a few types of starch cookers: jet cooker, continuous starch cooker, and a jet stream cooker.
The starch cooker is for the wet mill processing of starch, ethanol production, fructose, and alcohol production. It works in the method of direct steam injection applying internal steam modulation by way of a variable position steam plug, which accurately meters the mass flow of the stream. The jet cooker falls into this category.
An alternative to the jet cooker is the continuous starch cooker.
A starch slurry that cooks without steam injection must have water added so that the product resembles the end result in a jet stream cooker.
Steam cooking is such an integral part of the industrial process because it requires starch within facilities. It spans from bread to adhesives as a part of industrial projects.
Komax saw that there were specifically some elements within the traditional starch cookers that need improvements. The engineers were able to optimize the production process, reduce energy consumption, and reduction in steam.
The noise and vibrations that are seen within starch cookers as well as within the direct steam heaters for heating and cooking saw elimination within this new innovation.
The design also is more compact, more temperature control, low mechanical shearing, and low-pressure drop. The model is a flow-through style so that it provides the option for rapid disassembly and clean in place (CIP). These features specifically improve starch cooking. The Komax starch cooker design is a breakthrough in liquid, slurry, and starch heating handling during the manufacturing process.
The reason that the new design was to improve the overall performance of steam spargers and heat exchangers. When steaming mixing valves and steam sparging is done properly, it leads to poor starch cookout-out and poor temperature control.
Komax specializes in static mixers, steam heaters, desuperheaters, that all work together with the starch cookers innovation. Komax has been creating solutions for industrial industries for the past 40 years and understands what will help plants process into the future.