Handling, drying and processing of ear corn requires in-depth knowledge to avoid damage of the seeds and to preserve the germination ability.
Cimbria is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of equipment and plants for seed processing. Based on in-house technology and experience, they have the capability to carry out full design and supply of ear-corn projects on turnkey basis.
A firm project management control supports the anchoring of the security and quality that lies in the products and project execution. From placing the order to the expiry of guarantee, the responsibility for a project lies in the hands of an experienced and dedicated senior project team.
During the last couple of years Cimbria have succeeded in transferring the basic elements of their square silo design to dryers for ear corn. The dryers are built as modular chamber dryers in two ways: either as single-pass reverse dryers or double-pass reverse dryers.
Single-pass dryers have an individual fan and heating source (gas or hot water) for each cell, whereas double-pass dryers’ chambers have common heating and ventilation, and air passes from one bin to the next bin.
Design and supply of steel construction, roof construction, access, etc., are performed according to individual design.
Turnkey maize seed plant for Saatbau Linz in Geinberg/Austria
In September 2014, Cimbria commissioned and successfully inaugurated the turnkey maize seed plant for Saatbau Linz in Geinberg.
Considering that the southern part of Austria has always been known as the best maize region in the country, it was a courageous step by Saatbau Linz to install this new facility in the north of the country. This was primarily due to the farsightedness of Saatbau’s management, which took both climatic changes and the related major growth potential in this region into consideration when arriving at their decision. The southern part of Germany, mainly Bavaria, will become an increasingly attractive maize area in the future, with Geinberg as the most likely processing facility for their maize.
Within a period of just 6 months – from March until end of August – Cimbria erected the entire plant. The following amazing figures were reported during the erection period:
- 12,300 m² of building area, 12,000 m² of asphalt
- 1,400 t of steel
- 16,600 t of concrete = 1,100 trucks
- 115 km of cables
- Up to 185 workers on site at the same time
- Total electrical installation approx. 2,000 kW = 2 MW
- Heating capacity of dryer 14,000 kW = 14 MW
In the first season, Saatbau Linz used the plant for a harvest of approx. 8,500 t wet ear corn, aiming at around 13,000 t for next year. The new plant enables our treasured customer to further develop its strong position in the European market for maize seed, counting on their excellent varieties being constantly developed in Saatbau’s R&D stations.
The opening ceremony, which featured a large number of national and international guests from the seed sector on a guest list totalling more than 500 people, clearly shows the importance of the new plant for the entire region.
Outstanding features of the plant:
- Complete traceability of the seed from the field throughout the entire plant until the final seed bags.
- Fully automated filling of the ear corn dryer, enabled by optical sensors and cameras.
- Very gentle seed handling with pendulum bucket elevators and letdown ladders in the entire fine cleaning, calibration, chemical treatment and bagging-off section.
- Recirculation systems in the aspiration units for excellent working conditions inside the building throughout the typical processing period, which is during the winter.
