Optimising milling for Australian wheat grades

Optimising milling conditions for key Australian wheat grades

International flour mills struggle to extract maximum value from wheat due to the challenges of milling wheat from different origins with vastly varying characteristics.

This project models the differences in milling requirements for a range of significant Australian wheat classes using response surface methodology (RSM) to determine optimal mill settings and linear programming for optimal stream blending.

AEGIC’s Sydney Pilot Mill is fitted with 11 in-line near-infrared sensors that continuously measure protein, moisture, ash, and starch damage in each flour stream to closely simulate wheat milling performance in commercial mills. Demonstrating the benefits of Australian wheat in terms of its milling potential (i.e., potential yield and therefore actual financial value) makes it more likely mills will pay a premium for Australian wheat.

Completed (as of October 2024)

• We analysed the milling potential of Victorian Australian Standard White (ASW) and Australian Hard (AH).
• We completed milling and data analysis of Australian Premium White (APW) wheat from South Australia. We demonstrated the impact of relative humidity on the milling conditions.
• We presented the latest results at the International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Southeast Asia conference in October 2024 in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Scheduled (by March 2025)

• Milling trials of Australian Standard White (ASW) from SA will be completed by October/November 2024.
• We will complete all data processing, and further models will be built by November 2024.
• New data from WA and SA wheat will be combined with previous results from NSW and WA to develop more comprehensive models for optimal milling conditions by February 2025.
• We will develop guidelines to help millers extract maximum value from Australian wheat based on local climatic conditions by May 2025.

If you would like to know more, please contact us