Rice De-husking machine for domestic level brown rice production

 Introduction-

Rice grain is surrounded by a hard coat or husk, which protects the germ and the
endosperm, the energy-rich starchy centre of the grain. For making rice (paddy) palatable
for human consumption, this protective layer is removed during rice hulling processes.
During rice hulling in process (with conventional rice hullers) outer cover (hard coat) and
inside bran (brown coat) get removed to produce white policed rice.

The brown bran coating of has many nutrients and dilatory benefits
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/Why-brown-rice-is-healthier-
than-white/articleshow/19004946.cms). With increasing awareness on brown rice
consumption, demand for it is also increasing with health conscious community. This gives
scope for production of brown rice at domestic level as low cost , cottage scaled value
addition business for farmers , rural youth, SHGs. With this background we at Vigyan
ashram (Pabal) have developed Rice De-husking machine (prototype). The lab trials are
successfully completed with following details-

The said machine is developed for producing brown rice at domestic level. The machine
specifications are as follow-

Particular Specifications
Product name /Model Rice dehiscing Machine 1-10
number
Size / material used  Size - L-800mm,W-
600mm,H-1400mm
 Body MS structure with
grade de-husking rubber plats
 Weight - Max Approx wt
100-125kg
 Hopper size – 10 Kg
 Exhaust blower

Motor  1hp motor ( Crompton

greaves ) with 230V AC, 0.75A

Capacity  10 Kg / Hr (May vary with

Rice variety / moisture
content)

Rice-de-husking machine (Prototype)

  Comparison with convention rice-hullers available in market :-

Sr. Specification 10 Hp Rice Huller 40 Hp Rice huller VA model Remark on VA

No. (Semi-automated) (Fully automated ) model
1 Power supply 3 ph 3 ph 1 ph Cottage /
domestic scale
operation
2 Horse power 10 hp Total 36 hp 1 hp Low power
consumption
3 Final product 2 Stage Polished Polish rice Brown rice Brown rice
rice (depends on with nutrient
pressure applied retention
on crushing
wheel)
4 Processing 2 Stage (1st Stage- 6 ( Elevator, 1 ( Single stage Easy
stages Hulling , 2nd Stage- Colander, De- de-husking) operation, low
Polishing ) stoner, Crusher, maintenance.
separator, Polisher
)
5 Crushing Steel rod Roller rubber is Plates having
mechanism horizontally placed used rubber is placed
in casing horizontally
6 Flour area 4*2ft & 5*3ft Total 40*10ft 3*2fts Occupy less
area
7 Production 40 kg/hr 1 ton/hr 10 kg/ hr Low capacity
rate (Domestic
use)
8 Price ₹ 70000/- ₹ 700000/- ₹ 20000/- Low cost
9 Breakage 10 to 15% (depends 15 to 20% 5 to 10% Less breakage
on quality of (depends on (depends on
paddy) quality of paddy) quality of
paddy)
10 Labor Nearly 3 to 4 Nearly 2 Single operated Low labor
11 Percentage Almost 100% after Almost 100% after 85% to 90%
polishing polishing (depends on
quality of
paddy)
Note -

 Conventional rice huller even removes part of bran layer while doing single pass hulling.
 Breakage due to using steel rod for hulling in rice mills.
  Future development-
 Long kernel’s paddy like Basmati variety make blockage in passage.
 Machine is not useful for hard coating paddy like Mahadi.

We have planned to overcome these issues in next model of machine.

 Lab trial results on different rice varieties-

Sr. Variety of rice Percentage Remark

no. (Local name) of rice
obtain
1 Kamal bhaat 89% Machine runs smoother
2 Var. No. 4008 90% Machine runs smoother
3 Kasbai 83% Machine runs smoother
4 Kalisaal 86% Machine take load
5 Mahadi 66% More rubber abrasion
6 Basmati 85% Blockage in hopper due to long paddy size
7 Kala bhaat 96% High quality is achieved
8 Indrayani 90% Machine runs smoother

 Variety –vise de-husking photo specimens -

Acknowledgment –

This work is done with technical and financial support of Department of Science &
technology (Core support project) and PRAJ Foundation, Pune (TIED project).
Sample of rice from 10hp rice huller :-