Fractionation of Bulk Food Products

Abstract

Powders are part of many food products, which makes grinding an important food industry process. The research objective was to develop a new process of separating a polydisperse powder that differs in particle density from the liquid it is dissolved in. The study featured polydisperse sugar powder crushed in a ball mill and dissolved in sugar wafer suspension. The article introduces a physical and mathematical model of the process and a method for quantitative modeling of the process of separating particles from powder by centrifuging the suspension. The research was based on the classical concept of the diameter of a particle moving in a predetermined manner in the inter-barrel space of the separator drum. The authors developed a new concept of the current critical particle diameter, which they calculated from the dispersion composition of the powder synthetic indicators, the control parameter of the suspension separation process, and the performance of the separating machine, e.g. coefficients of clarification and loss factor. The study resulted in a new calculation method with fewer fractionation stages. The authors calculated the separation of targeted particles from a granulometric composition by centrifuging the powder. The calculation method fits any fine and medium-dispersed particle size and can facilitate any quantitative analysis of fractionation processes in a disc separator.