Development of an effective processing method for quality powdered food: an application of charged binder by electrostatic induction

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25450377
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Agricultural environmental engineering/Agricultural information engineering
• Research Institution: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
• Principal Investigator: Sotome Itaru 国立研究開発法人農業・食品産業技術総合研究機構, 食品研究部門食品加工流通研究領域, 上級研究員 (90469833)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 粉体加工 / 造粒 / 流動層 / 誘導帯電

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Variety of powdered food products are agglomerated to granule form to prevent lumping. Aqueous solutions of polysaccharides are usually added to the powder as binder for the granulation of food materials. Reducing the amount of binder expectedly shortens the processing time for the granulation and successive drying, which leads the improvement of process efficiency and product quality. In this study, the effect of electrostatic charge of binder droplets on the granule forming process in fluidized bed was investigated by applying electrostatic induction to a spraying nozzle for binder solution. The necessary amount of binder solution tended to decrease when the binder droplets were charged in opposite polar to the powder materials. However it was clarified that the electrostatic charge of the powder materials were unstable during the granulation process, hence controlling of powder charge is necessary for the further improvement of the granulation process using electrostatic force.

Free Research Field

食品工学