DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF MEDIUM CAPACITY GRAIN FLOUR SEPARATOR

A power operated 90.5 hp electric motor) grain flour separator was designed and developed for separation of grain (wheat, corn, chickpea and soybean) flour into various fractions based on the size of the particles of the product. The separator agitating mechanism, feed control, cylindrical separator unit and an eccentric mechanism. The machine was tested for wheat ( variety ; Sujata) flour separation into four fractions, viz ; semolina, Gr-I and II, flour (coarse) and white (fine) flour. Wheat samples (6.8% m.c., db) were first pearled by CIAE pearler for 15.8% bran removal . The pearled wheat grains were then milled for semolina by a burre mill. The product and machine characteristics were determined at different capacities varying from 24 kg/h to 143 kg/h. It was found that 76 kg/h capacity gave reasonably best results in terms of purity and recovery of semolina vis-a-vis the market product. The energy requirement of the machine at no-load was found to be 230 W and at load c nditions, it varied between 36.3-6.4 KJ per kg of fead seperation. The macine could be used by small flour millers small/medium size traders and retailers and other processors for making available various flour products of different particle size in the market for ready use of the consumers.