Development and performance evaluation of servo based PLC operated grain automatic weigher for Flour mill industry

Weigher is the necessity of a flour mill either to weigh the clean wheat before 1st break rolls or to weigh the final products to calculate extraction rate.  Low cost automatic weighing machine using latest technology of servo control and Programmable Logic Control was developed considering the advantages of electronic weighing and linear motion guide ways moving accuracies.  Statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in mean value of measurements from set mass (1500, 3500, 5000g) and measured mass at the 95% probability level.  Minimum average percentage error (< 0.2%) was observed for 3500 to 5000g weight measurements.  Mass measurements on the dispensed material under repeatability conditions produced results within ± 0.22% of displayed set mass for 3000 to 5000g and     revealed that mass measurement of product by auto grain weigher was quite precise.  Automatic weigher can be used for mass measurement of granular products in automated production processes. Keywords: Wheat, Weigher, Servo, PLC, Ballscrew, Loadcel

Microalgae biomass as an additional ingredient of gluten-free bread: Dough rheology, texture quality and nutritional properties

Microalgae have been widely used as a source of functional ingredients such as pigments, antioxidants, vitamins, and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. They also represent a promising alternative source of protein. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the addition of two green microalgae species (Nannochloropsis gaditana L2 and Chlamydomonas sp. EL5) on the techno-functional and nutritional properties of gluten-free bread. Microalgae biomass was added in the amounts of 1.0 and 3.0 g/100 g of flour. The behavior of the dough during the mixing as well as the physicochemical properties of the prepared breads were investigated. Gluten-free bread with N. gaditana L2 and Chlamydomonas sp. EL5 presented significantly higher protein and higher levels of lipids and ash, compared with the control bread. The incorporation of 3% microalgae biomass revealed a 100% increase in iron and calcium contents. The fatty acid profile of supplemented bread changed in a species-specific manner with a particular increase in linolenic acid (18:3 ω3) and a decrease in ω3/ω6 ratio. Besides, due to its original biochemical composition, mainly the highly protein content, microalgae incorporation was found to bring an overall structuring effect on the gluten-free bread texture. However, the dough mixing properties were not affected significantly by microalgae addition. A significant change in color was recorded in doughs, breads, crusts and crumbs. This was caused by the presence of pigment in microalgae biomass, which turned into more intense green-yellow tonalities. A sensory analysis revealed that the supplemented breads scored highest for nearly all the sensory parameters with the 3% N. gaditana L2 bread as the preferred one in terms of global appreciation. This innovative approach gives new insights of the possibility of improving gluten-free products, structurally and nutritionally, using only microalgae as a natural and a sustainable food ingredientinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparison of ambient solvent extraction methods for the analysis of fatty acids in non-starch lipids of flour and starch

BACKGROUND: Lipids are minor components of flours, but are major determinants of baking properties and end-product quality. To the best of our knowledge, there is no single solvent system currently known that efficiently extracts all non-starch lipids from all flours without the risk of chemical, mechanical or thermal damage. This paper compares nine ambient solvent systems (monophasic and biphasic) with varying polarities: Bligh and Dyer (BD); modified Bligh and Dyer using HCl (BDHCL); modified BD using NaCl (BDNaCl); methanol–chloroform–hexane (3:2:1, v/v); Hara and Radin (hexane–isopropanol, 3:2, v/v); water-saturated n-butanol; chloroform; methanol and hexane for their ability to extract total non-starch lipids (separated by lipid classes) from wheat flour (Triticum aestivum L.). Seven ambient extraction protocols were further compared for their ability to extract total non-starch lipids from three alternative samples: barley flour (Hordeum vulgare L.), maize starch (Zea mays L.) and tapioca starch (Manihot esculenta Crantz). RESULTS: For wheat flour the original BD method and those containing HCl or NaCl tended to extract the maximum lipid and a significant correlation between lipid extraction yield (especially the glycolipids and phospholipids) and the polarity of the solvent was observed. For the wider range of samples BD and BD HCl repeatedly offered the maximum extraction yield and using pooled standardized (by sample) data from all flours, total non-starch lipid extraction yield was positively correlated with solvent polarity (r=0.5682,P<0.05) and water ratio in the solvent mixture (r=0.5299,P<0.05). CONCLUSION: In general, BD-based methods showed better extraction yields compared to methods without the addition of water and, most interestingly, there was much greater method dependence of lipid yields in the starches when compared to the flour samples, which is due to the differences in lipid profiles between the two sample types (flours and starches)