Ve Holding Corp.

Vapor Energy, Inc.

Jim Bleke

W Gerald Wyatt

Richard L White

A grain treatment system incorporating a steam vessel and centrally disposed, grain diverting steam sparger unit for facilitating the flow of homogeneous plugs of grain therearound. The system incorporates a discharge unit having garner valves and/or flow restrictors for facilitating the anti-coring grain flow through the steam vessel with side and corner draw-off therein and the even percolation of steam upwardly therethrough for uniformly heating and moisturizing the grain. A vapor generator is used for providing a heating medium comprising a mixture of condensible and non-condensible gases introduced into the grain through the centrally disposed steam sparger. In this manner, homogeneous plugs of grain are uniformly passed through and discharged from the grain treatment system permitting controlled heating and moisturizing of grain and substantially eliminating problems of coring, grain clingage, static sludge build-up and associated grain treatment problems prevalent in many prior art systems.

Anti-coring grain treatment system

A grain treatment system incorporating a steam vessel and centrally disposed, grain diverting steam sparger unit for facilitating the flow of homogeneous plugs of grain therearound. The system incorporates a discharge unit having garner valves and/or flow restrictors for facilitating the anti-coring grain flow through the steam vessel with side and corner draw-off therein and the even percolation of steam upwardly therethrough for iniformly heating and moisturizing the grain. A vapor generator is used for providing a heating medium comprising a mixture of condensible and non-condensible gases introduced into the grain through the centrally disposed steam sparger. In this manner, homogeneous plugs of grain are uniformly passed through and discharged from the grain treatment system permitting controlled heating and moisturizing of grain and substantially eliminating problems of coring, grain clingage, static sludge build-up and associated grain treatment problems prevalent in many prior art systems.

A conditioning system for particulate matter comprising a vertical conditioning vessel adapted for the counter-current flow of particulate matter and treatment fluid therethrough. The particulate matter such as grain, is fed into an upper region of the vertical vessel while treatment fluid such as steam and non-condensible gases is fed into a lower region of the vessel. A plurality of paddles adapted for rotation through the counter-current flow of particulate matter and treatment fluid are provided among a plurality of stators. The rotation of the paddles about the stators creates a plurality of notional mixture planes facilitating homogenous interaction between the treatment fluid and the particulate matter thereby providing control of temperature and/or moisture levels therein. In this manner, heat may be added to particulate matter such as grain to alter the molecular structure thereof and/or increase lubricity for subsequent operations such as pelletizing.

Growing community of inventors

Wolcottville, IN, United States of America

Jim Bleke