Harvest challenges brought by unpredictable conditions answered by world-renowned double-flow dryer, manufactured in the UK by Alvan Blanch

As South Africa’s agricultural landscape continues to evolve, so does the need for more adaptable and efficient post-harvest solutions. With a growing focus on optimizing tighter harvest schedules and ensuring crop quality amidst shifting climate conditions, grain drying is becoming an increasingly critical step in the value chain. Grain drying is no longer just an insurance policy for poor weather, but an enhancement of profitability, enabling farmers to sell while the grain price is high.

South African grain producers are under pressure to shorten harvest windows and improve overall operational efficiency. Several factors contribute to this challenge like

Climatic uncertainty: With more unpredictable weather patterns, the risk of late-season rains has increased. This forces farmers to bring in their harvest earlier—often when moisture content is still relatively high—to avoid field access issues or crop loss.
Early harvest incentives: Farmers are incentivized to harvest earlier when possible, aiming to access better market prices. However, earlier harvesting can mean wetter crops, particularly in crops like maize, which may still have moisture levels above 20%. While this isn’t universally common, the need to reduce moisture content efficiently remains.
Modern machinery and larger operations: The use of large-scale combine harvesters and pivot irrigation systems allows for quicker harvesting over bigger areas. This boosts productivity but places further emphasis on the need for reliable, high throughput drying systems that can keep pace.
Specialist requirements: While niche, certain processors—such as breweries dealing with sprouted sorghum—demand precise and gentle drying solutions. Although this is a limited market, it highlights the need for flexibility in drying technologies.

Limitations of traditional dryers: Conventional tower dryers often struggle with uneven drying, grain damage (especially in beans), and issues handling wetter, poorer-flowing materials. These shortcomings affect South African farmers as much as those elsewhere, reinforcing the need for more advanced systems.

The innovative Alvan Blanch double flow dryer is uniquely positioned to address these exact challenges, offering a range of benefits that align with the South African market’s needs:

Consistent, even drying: The Double Flow design with complete turnover of product between the two drying floors ensures a uniform drying process, eliminating hotspots and preventing uneven moisture removal—a key issue with conventional systems.
Safe and gentle on crops: It is the safest drying system on the market, minimizing the risk of grain damage, even with sensitive crops like beans and nuts or high-moisture maize.
Handles difficult products with ease: Whether it’s damp, poor-flowing maize or niche crops like sprouted sorghum, the AB dryer is engineered to perform reliably where others struggle.
Flexible fuel options: The system supports a range of fuel sources, from diesel and gas to biomass—offering cost-efficiency and adaptability based on local availability and price.
Automation and control: With options for PLC control, auto moisture monitoring, and integrated handling systems, the dryer offers modern convenience and precision.
Simple installation and maintenance: The dryer’s design minimizes the need for complex civil works and features a self-cleaning louvre bed, reducing downtime and maintenance costs.
Custom-built solutions: Each AB drying system is tailored to the client’s specific crop types, capacity needs, and site constraints—delivering a truly bespoke solution.

Along with above, Alvan Blanch also offers fuel-conscious upgrades, reducing your energy bills up to 35%, helping your business to be more sustainable. These upgrades include Dust house – helps in collection of chaff and dust from product fixing your problems of cleaning and maintenance, Insulation for heat and sound -to suit environmental restrictions, Eco House – recovering discharged heat from dryer making the process more efficient, and moisture control system – offering live tracking the moisture content of grain.

As South African producers continue to push for greater resilience and efficiency in their operations, Alvan Blanch stands ready to support them with proven drying technology and over 70 years of engineering expertise. Whether you’re expanding your grain handling capacity, switching fuel types, or simply seeking a more reliable system—AB’s Double Flow dryers offer the flexibility and performance to future-proof your operation.

“The AB drier’s been really versatile — we can use it to dry both our maize and sorghum, even when they come in with pretty high moisture levels in a single pass.” “Thanks to the PLC control system, the drier and intake are mostly automated, so we don’t need someone standing by all the time watching — and it also keeps track of drying performance, which is really helpful.” “It can run on different fuel sources too — either diesel or coal using a hot water boiler — so that gives us a bit of flexibility, especially now that diesel’s getting more expensive” – Chris Lubbe, Owner, Dannhauser Malt, Dannhauser South Africa

#wedryeverything

AB dryers are versatile can handle wide range of materials, no other range of dryers can match the variety and condition of materials of AB drying technology, proven worldwide. You can be rest assured as they also have a testing facility which ensures your crops are in right hands. AB dryers can handle all crops ranging from maize, soya beans, sunflower, canola, wheat, rice, to even woodchip, cotton, almonds, alfalfa, seaweed etc.

Proven Success in Africa

Their commitment to the African agricultural sector is evident through successful installations across the continent, including withing southern Africa.

DF26500 with Intake System in Dannhauser, South Africa: This installation showcases the efficiency of the double-flow design, ensuring safe and uniform drying. More info – DF26500 With Intake System – Dannhauser – South Africa • Alvan Blanch 2025

DF48000 in Limpopo, South Africa: Demonstrating high-capacity drying capabilities, this model has significantly improved post-harvest processing, reduced losses, and enhanced grain quality. More info – Double Flow Grain Drier DF48000 – WM Foods – South Africa • Alvan Blanch 2025