Bühler boasts worldwide presence in grain processing activities

Bulk equipment giant Bühler has particular expertise in the grain handling market. Bühler understands the whole process. A huge part of the world’s grain is processed on Bühler’s equipment. It works with companies all over the world, big and small, in many different climates and situations.

Bühler is constantly creating more efficient ways of shiploading or unloading, grain conveying, cleaning, drying, dedusting, processing and grain storage — or introducing new digital services to help increase productivity and quality.

BÜHLER’S CUSTOMER AND DIGITAL SERVICES

Fast, professional, and reliable services for customers represent a major differentiator for Bühler. Services improve the performance and productivity of our customers’ existing installed assets, and have become key enablers to making its customers’ plants more efficient and sustainable at the same time. Apart from measurable improvements in the sustainability of customers’ assets, the Bühler service portfolio delivers key benefits such as cost reductions, yield improvements, improved personnel and machine safety, better uptime, capacity usage, food and feed safety, and lifetime extension. Modernization projects play a vital role for Bühler’s customers.

In addition, digitalization is another key aspect of Bühler’s innovation strategy. The company has embraced data analytics to develop digital services that enhance productivity, quality, and safety. These systems enable real-time monitoring, enabling customers — supported by Bühler’s process experts — to better predict and control production, thereby ensuring high standards of food safety and operational efficiency.

EXPANSION OF THE APPLICATION & TRAINING CENTER SET-UP

Bühler’s Application & Training Centers offer dedicated training for its customers, providing them with a collaborative platform to test new product ideas and experiment with product innovations. Over the last few years, the global network of application centres has expanded, offering a state-of-the-art set-up for customers to drive innovation. Two new projects in the field of grain processing are particularly worth mentioning:

Firstly, a new Grain Processing v Innovation Center (GPIC) in Kano, Nigeria, currently under construction and expected to open its doors in the second quarter of 2024. This centre will be focused on the development of products, recipes, and processes using local grains, such as sorghum, millets, maize, soybeans, fonio, and pulses with the overall objective to improve the local value-add in the food system of the country.

Secondly, construction on a new Grain v Innovation Center (GIC) in Uzwil/ Switzerland has begun, where Bühler and its customers and partners will develop, test, and scale sustainable and efficient solutions for grain and feed processing to improve food and feed solutions. The GIC is scheduled to start operations by the end of 2024.

About B Hler

Bühler is driven by its purpose of creating innovations for a better world, balancing the needs of economy, humanity, and nature. The company spends up to 5% of turnover on research and development annually. In 2023, around 12,500 employees generated a turnover of CHF 3.0 billion. As a Swiss family enterprise with a history of 163 years, Bühler is active in 140 countries around the world and operates a global network of 105 service stations, 30 manufacturing sites, Application & Training Centers in 25 locations around the globe, enabling the company to react fast to market trends and consumer needs. Its global reach, combined with its focus on tailored solutions and advanced digitalization, positions the company as a key partner in the industry, providing reliable and innovative solutions. Proximity to customers is vital.

Bühler has for a long time played an indispensable role in the gentle and effective handling of commodities such as grains, oilseeds and derivatives for the food and feed industry. The company is well known for its wide range of automation systems and bulk handling equipment — such as mechanical conveyer systems or silo/storage solutions — but it also has a long history of designing, constructing and supplying continuous shiploaders and unloaders, along with combined systems for loading and unloading.

SHIPLOADERS/UNLOADERS

Grain and derivate transshipment is a business in which a one cent difference per tonne can create a competitive advantage. Keeping shiploading and unloading costs low and efficiency high is therefore vital.

Bühler offers Portaload shiploaders (see pictures 1, 2 & 3), Portalink ship-unloaders and Portacombi shiploaders/unloaders which combine both. The pictures feature

Bühler’s Portaload shiploader which comes as a mobile shiploader installed on rails, ensuring stability during operation and when parked, or as a stationary shipunloader comprised of three towers, each with a horizontal loading boom. Of the three loading booms, two load simultaneously while the third moves into position to enable a hatch change without interrupting the loading process. Portaload shiploaders are sturdy, hard-wearing and equipped with advanced instruments, enabling them to load quickly, safely and efficiently at low operating costs.

Enclosed Belt Conveyors To Move Grain And Other Commodities

COFCO International is a global food provider specializing in grains, oilseeds, and sugar, and invested in Bühler’s enclosed belt conveyor system for its Timbúes facility in Argentina in 2023 (see pictures 4–6). The decision was prompted by Argentina’s stringent food hygiene and safety regulations, specifically regarding dust presence. Bühler’s enclosed belt conveyors, equipped with spot filters, not only meet hygiene standards but also enhance plant safety by minimizing suspended dust and reducing explosion risks.

For information on Bühler’s specific conveying technologies, please see ‘Gentle handling of dry bulk products with Bühler conveying technologies’ on p109 of this issue.

Large-diameter bulk storage projects keeping reclaimer manufacturer busy

A Laidig reclaim system designed for large-diameter silo and dome applications.

The year 2023 was a big one for big storage, writes Mandi Steffey, Sales Marketing Manager at Laidig Systems, Inc. As the world’s political climate impacted food security and supply chain stability, grain processing companies around the globe started seriously investing in not just facility upgrades, but greenfield projects, as well.

The uptick in activity has kept Laidig Systems, Inc., a bulk material storage and automated reclaimer designer and manufacturer based in the United States, busy helping customers find the right equipment to continue operating efficiently.

Growing storage diameters are a main facet of this uptick in activity. Some port facilities known globally for grain and meal exports have and continue to erect large silos and domes — some a staggering 60 metres in diameter — to keep up with worldwide demand.

As long-term human and animal food storage becomes even more prevalent in the future, the technology used to handle and unload those materials will become just as important. The main reason for this is simple: the precious material inside silos and domes must be effectively and safely reclaimed and unloaded.

When storage volumes increase, material flow issues inside silos appear more frequently, highlighting the need for reliable unloading equipment. Grains, and especially meals processed from grains, do not flow well from large structures. When stored in large tanks, materials like soybean meal and DDGS tend to cake up and become hardpacked, making the unloading process challenging.

When facilities are forced to shut down their process to deal with silo bridging, channel flow, or other storage problems, their efficiencies take a huge hit. The time lost dealing with bridged or blocked grain can cost companies significant amounts of money, and many businesses literally don’t have time for downtime.

A reclaim system is one way to guard against a stop or slowdown in production. While there are a handful of different reclamation methods commonly used in the industry, an automated, screw-type mechanical silo/dome bottom reclaimer has proven extremely effective in unloading grains and meals.

Laidig specializes in this kind of aggressive reclamation technology. In a typical large-diameter application, the screw auger is designed to start and operate under a full load of material. The screw rotates about its own axis, pulling material toward the centre of the silo floor to be discharged. At the same time this is happening, the screw slowly advances around the silo, sweeping the entire floor in a clockwise or counterclockwise motion. As the material is augured to the middle of the floor, it flows down through a centre chute and into a discharge auger, conveyor, or other delivery method for truck, train, or ship loadout.

These machines are paired with automated, push-button operation technology and can be paired with a wide range of system controls configurations. The systems as a whole are designed for not just ease-of-use, but safety, as well. Since the unloading is completely handled through mechanical means, facilities do not have to use manual labour to start or finish the silo unloading process. To ensure the operator’s safety in terms of servicing the machine, all maintenance points are located outside the silo.

While the effectiveness of any bulk storage plan relies upon a number of factors, the key to success for largediameter storage is in the planning stages. It is essential that the reclaim system is designed for the exact silo in which it will be installed, because the large and asymmetric material loads commonly seen at port facilities are known to create not only the previously mentioned flow issues, but structural integrity issues, too.

The technology and design in Laidig reclaim systems have been historically relied upon to solve issues many port facilities regularly encounter:

First-in, first-out (FIFO) inventory v control.

Material bridging or other flow issues. v Product infestation and contamination. v Operator safety challenges. v

Laidig has installed and commissioned thousands of systems, including at large, notable terminal facilities in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. Many of these systems have been in successful operation for decades.

Reliable storage solutions get safer with improved materials

Prado Silos, a highly experienced European silo manufacturer, starts 2024 scaling up manufacturing capacity and enhancing performance of storage solutions with new, more resilient materials.

Over the last years, concerns around commodities supply chains have dominated the headlines — from disruption in traditional trade routes and trade restrictions, to ravaging wars and spreading conflicts. On top of this, renewed interest in underpinning food and energy security has helped bring fresh interest in logistics and storage as the best tools to weather down the worst effects of crisis present and future, with silos as the most costeffective remedy to secure supplies and help avoid markets shocks.

With more than seven decades of experience delivering silo systems around the world, Prado Silos has become a trusted supplier of storage solutions in more than 100 countries, tapping new opportunities that emerge in the bulkhandling industry with a growing portfolio of industries served.

With a long tradition serving port installations and food industries that need safe and reliable logistics, Prado Silos feature in some of the world’s most important grain hubs, which in turn has endowed the company with a solid set of knowledge and the capacity to adapt to the newest requirements and trends in logistics.

“Adapting our silos to our customer’s needs requires a full understanding of their concerns and how we can make our silos fit in their logistics strategy,” says Javier Resano, managing Director of Prado Silos. “To remain competitive, we are forced to leave the comfort of an all-standard, onesize-fits-all approach to the silo business and provide new solutions in fields like energy consumption, environment, and safety and security,” he added.

As new interest builds up around the handling and storage of materials such as biomass, the Biscay-based company ranks among the very few suppliers of steel silos that can manufacture competitive solutions that abide by the most demanding regulations in terms of explosion safety, while at the same time making sure the contents inside remain in optimal condition for their later use.

In this sense, some of Prado’s latest projects have been devoted to industries that are new to the use of silo, adapting the steel silos to their requirements. As energy producers move to more sustainable sources of energy, Prado has managed to partner with them supplying solutions that allow for a proper handling of these contents. These solutions include the introduction of greater safety margins to allow the use of heavy-duty reclaimers, or using new materials, like stainless-steel inner smooth walls or painted interiors for materials that are extremely corrosive to the steel, making an investment in silos the most cost-efficient.

Likewise, sectors familiar with grain silo the go-to for silo manufacturers as a way to extend the service life of their silos. Now Prado has taken the strategic approach to service their silos with ZM310 coating, made with a special layer of ZincMagnesium-Aluminum that extends protection of the steel and make it last rust-free by three to five times longer than zinc-only coatings.

“Part of our strategy is to stay up-to date with the markets’ new trends and storage like feed mills, flourmills, or grain depots, are looking for new solutions that add reliability to their operations. And here Prado has found a new area for improvement with the use of steel that works better under corrosive atmospheres.

Already using some of the best steel in terms of mechanical properties compared to other manufactures (which allows Prado to supply lighter, yet stronger silos with lower transport and maintenance costs), Prado is now looking at the surface for a better service.

Traditionally, zinc-only coating has been developments, finding ways in which we can bring them to our segment in a way that adds value to our customer’s investments”

That affects also the way Prado delivers, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends in industry has proven key. Nowadays, Prado’s factory boasts state-ofthe-art machinery and technologies, with all lines fully automated and equipped with Computer Numeric Control which reduces costs and helps keep quality in line.

In the last year, the Prado factory has added two new machines to enhance their capacity and add new products to the range of solutions under their scope. A combined bending and laser cutting robot and a new profiling machine came to reinforce the capacity of Europe’s newest silo factory.

All this allows Prado to enter 2024 with a plan to underpin its footprint in the market where it operates and to enter new ones, with the focus now in enhancing the R&D efforts to grant access to new opportunities while keeping its strong position in the segments where it operates. “Our backlog for the year gives us a glimpse of what is to come, and all that points to more Prado Silos in the major storage projects in the world,” says Resano.