Seed processing equipment's

1. University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot
K R C College of Horticulture,Arabhavi
Prepared by
Basavaraj Panjagal
Ph.D Research Scholar
Seed Processing Equipments
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2. Introduction
 Seed is a matured ovule or seed is a propagule that is
used for propagation of plants
 Seed science and technology, process and tests the
seed and conserve food and agricultural seeds
 The goal is to improve the quality of the seeds that
farmers use for planting purpose and also the food
plants that are consumed by the people and the
livestock
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3.  Seed make up over 70% of the food that people
consume directly.
 From the wheat in our bread to oats in our cereal,
from corn & rice to beans & peas, seeds nourish the
humankind.
 Food and agricultural seeds are developed, processed
and maintained with high quality through continuous
advancements in seed sciences and technologies.
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4. Seed Processing
 Seed processing is that segment of the
seed industry responsible for upgrading
seed, improving planting condition of
seed, and applying chemical protectants to
the seed.
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5. Advantages of seed processing:
1. Make possible more uniform planting rates
by proper sizing
2. Improve seed marketing by improving seed
quality
3. Prevent spread of weed seed
4. Prevent crops from disease by applying
chemical protectants
5. Reduces seed losses by drying
6. Facilitate uniform marketing by providing
storage from harvest time until the seed is
needed for planting.
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6. Undesirable materials removed during
processing of seed
Raw seed
Inert material
Common weed
seed
Other crop seed
Noxious weed seed
Deteriorated seed Other variety seed
Off size seed
Damaged seed
Cleaned, Graded, Treated,
Packed, Tested seed 6
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7.  An important factor to consider is the moisture
content of the seed prior to processing.
 Seed with moisture content above 15% are
subject to excessive damage in the processing
line.
 In this case natural or artificial drying may be
necessary.
 Physical characteristics used to separate seed
include size, length, weight, shape, surface
texture, colour, affinity for liquids and
electrical conductivity.
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8. Basic flow and essential steps in
seed processing
Pre-
Conditioning
& pre-cleaning
Bulk storage
Receiving Separating and
upgrading
Cleaning
Storage
Treating and bagging
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9. Processing involved three steps
Step 1:- Pre-conditioning and pre cleaning
 Pre conditioning: Isolation of seed from plant
parts with which it was harvested e.g. Shelling
 Pre cleaning
Removal of external materials like trash,
stones, clods which are either in larger size or
lighter in weight. No pre cleaning is required
for hand harvested and winnowed seeds
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10. The machineries involved in this
operation are:
 Scalper
A scalper can be used to rough clean seed
when trash content is high.
 The scalper basically consists of a vibrating
or rotating screen or sieve.
 The screen perforations are large enough to
allow the rough seed to pass through readily
while large inert material is scalped off and
removed from the seed lot.
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11. Seed scalper
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12.  Debearders
The machine has horizontal beater with arms
rotating inside a steel drum.
 When the seeds pass through it do the action
of rubbing the seeds and clip the seeds of oats,
debeard barley, thresh white cap in wheat,
remove awns and beards, de hull some grass
seeds and polish the seed.
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13. Debearders
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14.  Huller – scarifier
Have two rubber faced rough surfaces to rub the
seeds.
 Dehulling (removal of outer coat or husk) and
scarifier (scratching the seed coat) can be done
simultaneously or separately.
 Its operations,
Seed – rotating disc- centrifugal force – thrown
– huller- - suction chamber- removes lighter
seeds .
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15.  Step 2 – Cleaning
➢ The second stage of cleaning is carried out with air
blasts and vibrating screens and is applicable to all
kinds of seeds.
➢ It is essentially the same as scalping but more refined.
➢ It is performed mostly by one machine known as air-
screen cleaner.
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16. Air-Screen cleaner cum grader
➢The air screen cleaner is the basic
machine in almost all seed processing
plants.
➢The air screen cleaner uses three cleaning
principles viz aspiration, scalping and
grading.
➢A common air screen cleaner for
processing seed uses two air blasts and
two screens.
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17. ➢The first air system removes dust and light
chaff before the seed reaches the first
screen.
➢The first screen allows the good seed to
drop onto the second screen.
➢The large foreign material rides over the
first screen and is discarded. The second
screen is a grading screen.
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18. Air screen cleaner cum grader
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19.  Cleaning and Grading
➢ To obtain quality seed, it is necessary to clean the seed
obtained from the farm to get rid of inert materials, weed
seeds, other crop seeds, other variety seeds, damaged and
deteriorated seed.
➢ Different kinds of seeds can be separated when they differ in
one or more physical characteristics.
➢ Physical characteristics normally used to separate seeds are
size, shape, length, weight, colour, surface texture, affinity to
liquids, electrical conductivity, etc.
➢ The problem lies in identifying the most important property
and use the machine that separates seed using the identified
property.
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20.  Upgrading
 Seed lots require further cleaning treatment to remove
adulterants that are similar to pure seed in size and shape, to
be separated by air screen cleaner.
 Removal of seeds larger or smaller than required size (sizing)
and removal of cracked, damaged or otherwise defective
seeds (grading) is accomplished in this final stage of
processing.
 Specific gravity separation
➢ Seed of same size and general shape can often be separated
because they differ in specific gravity.
➢ This difference is very useful in removing light immature
seed or heavy sand and rocks to improve the purity and
germination of crop seed.
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21. Specific gravity separator
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22. Indented cylinder
➢ Seed of the same width and thickness can sometimes be
separated by taking advantages of difference of length.
Indented cylinder can do very precise separation by using
length difference.
➢ The indented cylinder separator is a rotating almost horizontal
cylinder with a movable horizontal separating trough mounted
inside it.
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23. Elevator
➢ Single leg bucket elevator
consisting of receiving
hopper, boot, bucket, belt,
boot pulley, leg, head pulley,
motor, drive and discharge
spout will be used for
conveying seed from one
machine to another machine.
➢ It will lift the seed from the
ground vertically upward and
discharge it from top to the
different machines.
➢ This type of elevating
machines requires less power
and floor area. 23
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24. Color, Weight and Size Variations in Seeds
Assorted beans
wheat grain
fenugreek
black mustard
hemp
green lentils dried peas
green split peas
soya beans wheat germ
oats
Golden flax
Pinto beans
coriander
Variety of pulses
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25.  Colour separator
➢ The colour separator is used to separate discoloured seed,
greatly of lower quality.
➢ Separation based on colour is necessary because the density
and dimensions of discoloured seed are the same as those of
sound seed, so other machines are not effective for separation.
➢ Electronic colour separation uses photocells to compare the
seed colour with “background” which are selected to reflect
the same light as the good seed.
➢ Seed that differs in colour is detected by the photo cells,
which generate an electric impulse.
➢ The impulse activates an air jet to blow away the discoloured
seed.
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26. Separating Seed by Color
➢The color sorter (right) uses an
electronic eye that can pick up
different colors according to the
way the machine is adjusted.
➢As seed falls down a shoot, it
passes through the electric eye.
➢If the color of the seed is
different than the desired color, the
electric eye will activate a sudden
burst of air that pushes that seed
into a reject bin while the rest of
the seed passes through to another
bin.
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27. Friction cleaning
✓The air-screen combinations cannot remove
debris that has a size and density similar to
the seeds.
✓However, if the debris has a different surface
texture, it may be possible to remove by
friction cleaning.
✓The belt continuously moves upwards and
removes the debris while the seeds roll down
the slope.
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28. Spiral separator
✓The separator, which classifies seed
according to its shape and rolling ability,
consists of sheet metal strips fitted around a
central axis in the form of a spiral.
✓The unit resembles an open screw conveyor
standing in a vertical position.
✓Most spirals have multiple inner flights
arranged one above the other to increase the
capacity.
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29. Spiral separator
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30. Liquid flotation
✓Cleaning by flotation relies on the principle
that the density of the seed of a given species
is specific both for filled and ill filled seed.
✓In this method, liquids with a density or
specific gravity between that of the full and
empty seed are used.
✓The specific gravity of the liquids used is such
that the full seed sinks and the empty seed and
light debris float.
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31. Liquid flotation
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32. Magnetic separator
✓The magnetic separator separates seed according to its surface
texture or related seed characteristics.
✓First, seed is treated with iron filings, which adhere to rough
surface alone. The treated seed lot is passed over a revolving
magnetic drum and separated from smooth, uncoated seed.
✓It may help to add varied amounts of water while mixing seed
and powder, depending on the seed type.
✓At any rate, the effectiveness of magnetic separation depends
on the components of the seed lot and on the powder and water
used in the treating operation.
✓The greater the difference between surface textures of the seed
lot’s components, more effective will be the separation.
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33. ✓At any rate, the effectiveness of
magnetic separation depends on the
components of the seed lot and on
the powder and water used in the
treating operation.
✓The greater the difference
between surface textures of the
seed lot’s components, more
effective will be the separation.
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34. Seed coating machine
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35. Seed pelleting equipment
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36. Some of the machineries related to
seed processing
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37. Some of the identified properties and machines operating by following the
properties are listed below:
Name of the Separator Property followed Uses
Vibratory separator Shape and surface texture Removal of weed seeds
Spiral separator Shape or the degree of its ability
to roll
Separation of damaged/flat and wrinkled
seeds from smooth seeds. Separation of
mustard, rape, soybean and peas from
wheat, flax, oats, etc., and round seeds from
flat seeds.
Disk / Indented cylinder
separator
Length Dissimilar material like wheat, rye,
mustard, barley from oats
Electrostatic separator Electrical property Johnson grass from sesame seed
Electronic colour sorters Colour / brightness Separation of off coloured seeds
Inclined draper Shape and surface texture Separation of smooth or round seeds from
rough flat or elongated seeds
Magnetic separator Surface texture and stickiness Removal of contaminating weed seed from
clovers, alfalfa seeds and iron metals
Roll mill Shape and surface texture Separation of smooth clover seed
Gravity separator or
Destoner
Density or specific gravity Removal of badly damaged, deteriorated,
insect damaged crop seed and stones from
good seeds. 37
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38. Gravity Separator
✓ Gravity Separators, also known as gravity air
tables or density separators, use a combination of
air for weighing, vibration for fluidization and
conveying and tilt (or slope) for separation.
✓ Made for ease of use, longevity and above all,
accuracy, Oliver Gravity Separators sort dry,
granular, free-flowing material into streams
according to particle density.
✓ This density separation can effectively separate
like-size particles with as little as 0.5% difference
in specific density.
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39. Gravity separator
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40. Semi automatic grader
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41. Seed packaging machines
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42. Voyager
✓Programmable Logic Circuitry with a pre-
loaded menu of up to 20 separation "recipes"
means faster and simpler changeover between
different products, and optimal separations
from even the most minimally-trained operator
no matter what your density separation, size
separation or contaminant removal needs.
✓Industry: Food, Hemp, Seed and Grain
✓Purpose: Separating
✓Capacity: Large, Medium, Small
✓Technology: Smart
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44. Hi-Cap Gravity Separators
 The workhorse of the separation industry
from seed to coffee and beyond. Running
capacities up to 15,000 lbs/hr.
 Model: HC 30, HC, 50, HC 80, HC 160,
HC 240, HC 316
 Industry: Food, Hemp, Seed and Grain
 Purpose: Separating
 Capacity: Large, Medium, Small
 Technology: Manual
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46. Laboratory Hi-Cap Gravity
Separators
 smallest precision gravity separator, built on
the Hi Cap framework.
 Used in laboratories and universities
worldwide for trial or research applications.
 Capable of upgrade to electronic controls.
 Model: LHCGS 30
 Industry: Food, Hemp, Seed and Grain
 Purpose: Separating
 Capacity: Small
 Technology: Manual
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48. Fluidized Bed Dryer
 Drying Solutions that Reduce Clumping & Improved
Flowability.
 Oliver Fluidized Bed Dryers prevent product clumping,
simplify cleanup and improve finished appearance of seed
coatings and treatments while cutting dry time to a fraction.
 The Fluidized Bed Dryer uses a combination of air in motion
through a vibrating, tilted table. Seed flow is converted to a
“fluidized” suspension, making gentle, uniform drying
possible for coated, treated or washed seeds.
 As a result of the automated technology, the Fluid Bed Dryer
significantly improves the consistency, appearance and
overall benefits of seed treatments.
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50. Essential Requirements for success of
Seed Company
I. Farm
II. Processing plant
III. Electricity
IV. Buildings
V. Raw materials
VI. Man power
VII. Marketing
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51. Processing machines required in the seed processing plant
Sl. No. Name of machines Capacity Qty.
1. Pre-cleaner 4TPH 1 No.
2. Seed Cleaner 4TPH 1 No.
3. Indent Cylinder 4 TPH 1 No.
4. Specific gravity separator 4 TPH 1 No.
5. Elevator up to 5 m height 4TPH 4 No
6. Vacuum cleaner - 1 No.
7. Electronic moisture meter (Wet type) - 1 No.
8. Bag closer heavy duty - 2 No.
9. Weighing machine 500 kg 1 No.
10. Diesel generating set 100 KVA 1 No.
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52. Layout of seed processing machines
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