The innovative and sustainable Prime Masa process
Corn tortillas and tortilla chips are made from specially treated nixtamal corn flour. In the traditional process, the corn is cooked for several hours in water and burnt lime is added before grinding. This process uses substantial amounts of energy, water, and strips the corn off some important nutrients. For every kilo of corn produced, 1.5 litres of water are consumed, with most of this water leaving the process as waste. This made it imperative for PV Sons to work towards their sustainable growth in a place where industries are the largest contributors to resource wastage. With their sizeable production capacity, they were looking at around 500 tonnes of water wastage – which is equivalent to the water demand of over 150,000 people!
Bühler’s pioneering Prime Masa Nixtamal process uses the latest steam technology instead of boiling water and therefore uses less water, enabling the production of tortilla flour with its typical flavor, increased nutritional value as well as high quality and yield. The Prime Masa Nixtamal process uses only 240 litres of water, instead of 1,500 litres to process 1,000 kilograms of corn into nixtamalized corn flour, thereby reducing water usage. The steaming process is shorter than the traditional cooking process, which in turn leads to energy savings.
The Prime Masa plant is expected to save around 4,000 tonnes of CO2e per year which is equivalent to the annual carbon captured by around 205,000 trees. PV Sons is thus expected to reach a reduction of up to 25% of CO2e with this mill.