Process
Production
The one character among many that make Keerthi Nirmal stand apart is its most innovative and state of the art manufacturing unit. Integration of modern rice machines alongside traditional processes make our plant one of the best in the industry. We take great pain to keep abreast with the changing technology in paddy processing and hygiene and quickly implement advanced techniques to benefit our esteemed clients.
Another feature to highlight is our very stringent quality check and measures throughout the process line to ensure seamless production and process integrity. Not a grain of rice leaves our facility without undergoing all quality checks that have been incorporated in our facility. Thus we vouch for 100% quality on all our products to customers worldwide.
Technical Department
Once the rice is harvested and brought to our mills, the post-processing begins. With the vast quantities of rice being processed every day, modernisation and technological intervention are inevitable to keep the production processes meeting the ever-increasing demand and maintain the business profitably. We have changed machines, technicians, and workflow orientation through the years to keep in pace with the changing technologies that make the processes more straightforward, more comfortable, and make the end product of better quality and ensure more safety standards at each step. We have well-trained staff who maintain the machines and keep a keen eye on the processes and address any malfunction or imbalance then and there. Quality checks and safety regulations are tightly followed around the shop floor.
Laboratories
Our facility carries its research and development wing, along with trying to innovate cultivation and harvesting processes continually, and are also looking into the characteristics of the products that we process. The significant factors that speak of the quality of rice are grain length, stickiness, texture, flavour and aroma. Asian rice varieties fall under two broad categories: ‘Indica’ or long grain rice and ‘Japonica’ or short-grain rice. In comparison, the grain length and stickiness are genetic and depend on the cultivation conditions, post-processing influences rice, aroma, and flavour. A critical parameter is the ratio of broken rice produced at milling, which has to be minimum, an attribute of delicious rice. Lab testing is done on random sample sizes to detect anomalies or quality degradation.
Milling Process
Depending on the requirements of the customer, the rice should preferably have minimum broken kernels. Most rice varieties are roughly 20% rice hull, 11% bran layers, and 69% starchy endosperm, also referred to as the total milled rice. Complete milled rice contains whole grains or head rice and broken rice. The by‐products in rice milling are rice hull, rice germ and bran layers, and hot broken rice.
In rice milling, the paddy grains are fed into the indent cylinder at the feed inlet situated at the high end of the sloping barrel. The indents capture the undersized grain. It is then carried up as the cylinder revolves, and the grain is dislodged by gravity and is collected in a flared trough screw conveyor and discharged. The full-grain remains at the bottom of the cylinder. Due to the inclination of the cylinder, it travels to a separate discharge outlet. Rice forms the essential primary processed product obtained from paddy, and this is further processed for receiving various secondary and tertiary commodities.
Effluent Treatment plant
Parboiled rice is one of the most popular rice products, making it about 50% of the total paddy production. The process of parboiling involves soaking, steaming and drying. Conventional parboiled production generally requires a large amount of water for the soaking of the paddy. The soak water is drained off to recover the paddy.
The modern rice mills discharge large quantities of soak water, and the organic material (Chemical Oxygen Demand COD) in the soak water causes water pollution. The main dissolved constituent of the soak water is organic matter, measured as chemical oxygen demand (COD) and silica dissolved from the husk.
Galaxy Environ implemented an Effluent Treatment plant at Keerthi Rice mill with the critical treatment step as Biological Anaerobic treatment, followed by chemical treatment to meet the discharge criteria. The technology is licensed from CSIR-NIIST, a central government-funded research institute located in Trivandrum.
Water Treatment Plant
Water treatment is the process that improves the quality of water by removing contaminants and undesirable components or reduces their concentration so that the water becomes fit for its desired end-use.
Biogas Plant
Biogas is a type of biofuel that is naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste. Biogas plants are growing in popularity throughout rural areas for their use as a free renewable energy source. Not only does this system provide energy, but it also recycles waste, improves public hygiene and controls pollution. The biogas produced from this can be used instead of gasoline and other fuels to generate electricity.
Rain Water Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and storage of rainwater for reuse on-site rather than allowing it to run off. The harvested water can also be used as drinking water and groundwater recharge. Rainwater harvesting is one of the simplest and oldest self-supply methods for households usually financed by the user.