AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING RAW MAIZE FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, GLUCOSE, FECULA, ALCOHOL, AND BEER, THE BASIS OF THE PROCESS BEING THE CHEMICAL DECORTICATION OF THE GERMS OF THE MAIZE BEFORE USING THIS GRAIN IN THESE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexandre Sézille, of Levallois Perret, in the Department of
Seine, in the Republic of France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF TREATING RAW MAIZE FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR,
GLUCOSE, FECULA, ALCOHOL, AND BEER, THE BASIS OF THE PROCESS BEING
THE CHEMICAL DECORTICATION OF THE GERMS OF THE MAIZE BEFORE USING
THIS GRAIN IN THESE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexandre Sézille at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th June 1878.
"
ALEXANDRE SÉZILLE, of Levallois Perret, in the Department of Seine, in the
Republic of France. AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING RAW MAIZE FOR USE
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, GLUCOSE, FECULA, ALCOHOL, AND BEER, THE
BASIS OF THE PROCESS BEING THE CHEMICAL DECORTICATION OF THE GERMS OF
THE MAIZE BEFORE USING THIS GRAIN IN THESE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES."
The chemical decortication is effected in baths lined with lead, in pouring on to
In 3/4 of an
the grain 8 to 10 per cent. of sulphuric acid at 66 degrees Baumé.
hour the decortication is complete, the husk is dissolved, and the grain is washed
by changing the water three or four times in an hour, and it is allowed to drain
and dry for seven or eight hours.
The grain is crushed in mills, or by special crushers, and the germ is easily
detached and is separated from the grain by profiting by the difference of density
of the grain and germ; this is effected in water of more or less density.
The grain of the maize is then purified, and ready for employment in any of the
above-named industries.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexandre Sézille in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
December 1878.
ALEXANDRE SEZILLE, of Levallois Perret, in the Department of Seine, in the
Republic of France. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING RAW MAIZE FOR Use
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR, GLUCOSE, FECULA, ALCOHOL, AND BEER, THE
BASIS OF THE PROCESS BEING THE CHEMICAL DECORTICATION OF THE GERMS OF
THE MAIZE BEFORE USING THIS GRAIN IN THESE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES."
Maize contains in 10% of its weight oleaginous and fatty matters, one-third of
which are found under the bark or husk, and in it; the other two-thirds are
enclosed in the germ, the weight of which is about the tenth of that of the grain;
it contains therefore about 6 kilogrammes (1 kilogramme about 2½ lbs.) of oil or
fatty matters, which are very injurious in the manufacture of glucose, sugar, fecula,
starch, alcohol, and beer..
By the ordinary process the germ and husk are separated with difficulty and
great expense. My process is very economical, improves the products, and increases
the yield.
The following is the modus operandi:-In a recipient lined with lead, long
shaped, and sufficiently large to admit of mixing and turning the grain easily with
the chemical ingredient, 300 kilogrammes of maize, for example, are placed in the
receptacle, on which 8 to 10% of sulphuric acid is poured at 66 degrees Baumé.
The whole is energetically agitated for 4 or 5 minutes, so that the grain may uniformly
absorb the sulphuric acid; it is allowed to rest a minute, to recommence three or
four times for about three-quarters of an hour. The decortication is complete, the
grain is blackened, viscous, the husk entirely disaggregated and dissolved, and the
starch is not in the least attacked, even if the sulphuric acid is allowed to act longer
on the grain. It is then washed in pure water whilst stirring it about with a
shovel for three or four minutes, and the grain is allowed to remain in contact
with the liquid for a quarter of an hour. It is decanted, and the operation repeated
three or four times in the space of an hour. The grain no longer contains any
traces of acid; it is then drained for 7 or 8 hours, or even longer.
It should be observed that to work more rapidly and economically in the washing
and decorticating operations pug mills and archimedian screws may be used. The
spongy and pulpy nature of the germ causes it to absorb more water than the grain
itself; it inflates and becomes elastic under the pressure of the finger, so that after
draining it scarcely adheres to the feculent grain. In this state the maize is passed
under millstones or special crushers to separate it into small fragments; the germ
comes out whole without being broken, and falls with the grain into a metallic
bolting cloth, with mesh sufficiently open to eliminate the few particles of flour
which are produced. It then remains to separate the crushed grain from the germ;
for this purpose the method used in the treatment of cereals may be employed, that
is to say, sifters, sieves, and blowers, but this plan is long, expensive, requires much
plant, and always leaves germs in the grain.
I obtain better results in profiting by the difference in density of the crushed
grain and that of the germ, the latter being lighter in the same volume, and its
oleaginous nature greatly assisting in the separation, which I effect in pure water
in the following manner:-In a receptacle of some sort a quantity of water is
poured, proportionate to that of the grain and germ to be put therein, and so as to
have above the grain 30 to 35 centimètres of water. This is agitated some minutes,
the good grain falls to the bottom, and the germ being lighter deposits itself on the
upper layer of the grain. A tap is opened below the recipient, and the water is
lowered one or two centimetres below the grain, so that all the germs can be
removed with the shovel. This operation is repeated two or three times, and the
grain is then free from germs.

page_text: As in removing the germs a little grain is collected the germs are submitted to a
similar treatment.
Again the separation of the germ from the grain may be effected more rapidly
and economically by replacing the pure water by a liquid sufficiently dense to
prevent the germs forming a layer above the grain, but makes them float on the
fiquid.
After having agitated the grain a short time the germs are removed with a per-
forated shovel; then the grain, which has been allowed to drain by opening a tap
below the recipient to let off the liquid, which enters another reservoir, and serves
for another operation.
When the recipient is not deep the grain can be removed without extracting the
liquid. A quantity of the same liquid equal to that absorbed by the grain and germ
is then added for another operation.
The nature of the density of the liquid, and the products producing this density,
will vary according to the use to which the maize is to be applied; thus, the manu-
facturers of molasses alcohol, employing for fermentation maize in the proportions
of 10 to 15%, can produce the density with molasses, or concentrated distillers'
wash. Manufacturers of alcohol and maize glucose can also use their products. to
increase the density of the separating liquid. Marine salt, rock, or other salt
may be used to produce the density, and make the liquid mark 15 to 20 degrees
Baumé.
The density produced by the salts is particulary suitable in the manufacture of
fecula or starch. It suffices (after draining and for removing the particles of salt)
to add to the steeping water three or four parts of slaked lime in powder for every
100 kilogrammes of water. A final washing will efface the last traces of molasses,
wash, or glucose.
Separation of the germ and grain can be continued by creating in the recipient
with the dense liquid a current which, escaping by a channel at the upper part of
the recipient, draws with it outside the germs, which drain on sieves, and are then
dried.
My process of separation of the germs by the density of the liquid, or by the
difference of the weights of the grain and germ in pure water, may also be applied
to grain maize in its natural condition, that is to say, not decorticated after steeping,
drying, and crushing.
The following is the mode of procedure with maize grain undecorticated :—
Immersed in plain water the maize is freed during this time of all the bad grain
and foreign matters which float up. After draining, the maize is dried on a plank,
or put into sacks till damp has quite reached it. It is then in good condition for
crushing, which may be performed by any suitable means, especially by the
"Anduze" crusher or bruiser, which consists of two vertical sheet-iron plates or
tables, with centrifugal action, having a case. One of these plates is fixed; the
other rotates 7 or 8 turns a minute, and projects the grain to the circumference;
these plates are furnished with teeth, which are blunt, with sharp angles diminishing
from the centre to the circumference.
During decortication the husk is driven by blowers, or removed by sorters or
sifters; the grain is finally passed to the bolter. Thus decorticated, bruised, or
crushed, and freed from the germ, the maize directly produces glucose sugar by
saccharifying it in apparatus at high pressure, or in closed vessels, with the addition
of sulphuric acid or hydrocloric acid.
I can also employ wooden troughs with serpentine steam pipes, having first
crushed by mill or cylinders the bruised grain with a jet of water so as to make it of
a pasty mass, which is put in the saccharifying troughs. By these two means of
preparation, the maize being purified before saccharification, none of the saccharine
principles are lost; dextrine and azote matters found in the grain. The yield in
glucose is increased, a finer flavour is given to it, which is communicated to the
beer, of which it produces the best qualities. Moreover, much less animal black is

page_text: required for discoloring the sirup than is required with meal maize, in which the
germ and husk are mixed.
In the manufacture of alcohol the germs communicate an empyreumatic taste,
and it is necessary to rectify several times to remove this taste.
I avoid all these inconveniences by my chemical decortication and previous
separation of maize germs, which allows of putting into the fermenting troughs
25% more feculent matter in place of the 20% of useless or injurious matters
which were extracted before, and which were more dense than the grain, and
occupied more room in the same volume.
°
In operating on bruised grain, and having the germ removed for making starch,
a larger yield in fecula is obtained, as the crushing in water with the husk, the
fatty matters, and germs, always leaves in the waste or pulp a large amount of
fecula, whilst another part mixing with the oleaginous matter hinders the rapid
deposit of the fecula, and at the same time makes it of an inferior quality.
Less time is required by my process for steeping the grain, and less motive power
for bruising.
The expense of decortication chemically, and removing the germ, does not excede
1 franc 50 centimes per kilogramme of raw grain, which is more than covered by
using the first and second waters of the decorticated grain for making manure either
with animal black or mineral phosphates in powder. These waters contain nearly
all the sulphuric acid, the dissolved shell, and the azote matters.
The value of the germs in oil and oil-cake is from 2 francs 50 centimes to 3 francs
per kilogramme of raw maize grain.
I claim as my Invention, the process and method of application in the chemical
and mechanical decortication, and extraction of the maize germs and other cercals,
for the manufacture of sugar, glucose, fecula, starch, alcohol, and beer, as herein
mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexandre Sézille, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
ALEXANDRE SÉZILLE. (L.S.)