McArthur Agriculture has worked with Aberdeen Grain, located at Whiterashes, Aberdeenshire, to design and install an upgraded system of the farmer-owned grain co-operative's malting barley cleaning capability. The upgrade project is well under way and will be commissioned in time for harvest 2023.

"We wanted to improve our operations by having the capability to not only dry and clean but to also fine grade the malting barley before it goes into store," explained Kate Blues, General Manager at Aberdeen Grain.

"Currently, malting barley comes into the plant via a wet grain storage hopper and passes through our existing rotary cleaner to be pre-cleaned, before being dried and transported to storage bays. Once harvest is over the barley is then transported, which means costly and resource heavy double handling, back to our cleaner to be fine cleaned," continued Blues.

The upgraded system with two JK Machinery VibroMAX 10413 vibratory sieve cleaners with JAA 10 fully adjustable air leg separators on the outlets at its core, will allow malting barley to be dried, cleaned and fine graded before going into storage, without the need for double handling. McArthur Agriculture recommended and will supply the VibroMAX cleaners.  

"By installing the VibroMAX cleaners we will significantly increase the level of Aberdeen Grain's dressing capacity," explained Blues. "Additionally, by eliminating the need for double handling after harvest, we will improve the throughput of grain across our site."

The existing rotary grain cleaner will be retained to pre-clean the malting barley before it is dried. Instead of going into store directly from the drier the grain, once dried, will pass through the VibroMAX.

The VibroMAX has the capability to improve the fine cleaning and grading by removing small impurities and undersized grains to meet the exacting and ever tighter specifications of Aberdeen Grain's customers, before being transported to storage bays where it will stay until it is sold.

The compact design of the VibroMAX has meant that both cleaners can easily be accommodated within the plant's existing building.

To further maximise and future-proof the capability of the upgrade project, McArthur Agriculture advised Aberdeen Grain to install Skandia Elevator's next-generation H-Line grain handling equipment. The H-Line conveyors and elevators have been designed for commercial grain storage operations as well as for larger farming enterprises.

"We were very impressed with how McArthur Agriculture approached this project. Scott McArthur spent time with our lab manager to really understand what we required to continue to deliver the highest grade of barley for malting," added Blues. "It was clear that time had been spent on researching the right cleaners and grain handling equipment to deliver the upgrade we need. Installation is on target to be fully operational in time for harvest 2023."