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Laboratory-scale milling of whole-durum flour quality: effect of mill configuration and seed conditioning
Lingzhu Deng1, Frank A Manthey1
1Cereal Science Graduate Program, Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108-6050, USA.
Background:
Research was conducted to develop a laboratory milling procedure to make whole-durum flour. An ultracentrifugal mill was evaluated by determining the effect of mill configuration and seed conditioning on particle size distribution and quality of whole-wheat flour.
Results:
Particle size of whole-wheat flour decreased as screen aperture decreased from 1000 to 250 µm; as rotor speed increased from 6000 to 18 000 rpm; and as seed conditioning moisture content decreased from 150 to 90 g kg-1 . Feed rate during milling did not affect particle size distribution. Starch damage decreased as screen aperture increased; as rotor speed increased from 6000 to12 000 rpm; and as seed conditioning moisture content decreased from 150 to 90 g kg-1 . Flour temperature varied with milling parameters but did not exceed 34 °C.
Conclusion:
An ultracentrifugal mill configured with a rotor speed of 12 000 rpm, screen aperture of 250 µm, and seed conditioning moisture of 90 g kg-1 resulted in a fine whole-wheat flour where 82% of particles were <150 µm, starch damage was 59 g kg-1 , and flour temperature was below 35 °C. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

