Rice milling process

Claim 1

AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR EXTRACTIVE MILLING OF BROWN RICE COMPRISING WETTING BROWN RICE WITH FULL MISCELLA; MILLING BRAN SOFTENED BY THE FULL MISCELLA FROM KERNELS OF THE RICE WITH RICE GRAINS IN INIMATE RUBBING CONTACT AND WITH PRESSURE OF EACH OTHER; DURING THE MILLING STEP PASSING A STREAM OF FULL MISCELLA THROUGH RICE UNDERGOING MILLING THEREBY EXTRACTING ADDITIONAL OIL FROM THE RICE AND BRAN; CONTROLLING THE RATE OF FLOW OF FULL MISCELLA THROUGH THE RICE IN THE MILLING STEP TO FLUSH A MAJOR PROPORTION OF REMOVED BRAN FROM THE RICE KERNELS; SEPARATELY WITHDRAWING A RICE KERNEL FRACTION CONTAINING A MINOR PROPORTION OF REMOVED BRAN, AND A BRAN-MISCELLA SLURRY FROM THE MILLING STEP; PASSING THE WITHDRAWN BRAN-MISCELLA SLURRY TO A SETTLING STEP; RECYCLING SETT''ED FULL MISCELLA TO THE MILLING STEP; SEPARATELY PASSING THE WITHDRAWN RICE FRACTION THROUGH A SERIES OF RICE WASHING AND EXTRACTION STEPS WHEREIN FLOW OF RICE IS COUNTERCURRENT TO FLOW OF FRESH SOLVENT; DESOLVENTIZING THE RESULTING WASHED RICE FRACTION; PASSING A SETTLED BRAN FRACTION FROM THE SETTLING STEP THROUGH A SERIES OF BRAN WASHING AND EXTRACTION STEPS COUNTERCURRENT TO A WEAK MISCELLA WITHDRAWN FROM A FIRST STEP IN SAID SERIES OF RICE WASHING AND EXTRACTION STEPS; AND DESOLVENTIZING THE RESULTING WASHED BRAN FRACTION.