Cereal Chem 58:463 - 466.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Laboratory Abrasive Decorticating Mill--Influence of Machine and Operating Variables.

A. D. Shepherd. Copyright 1981 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A laboratory decorticating mill was studied to determine the effects of machine variables (surface, grit, impeller blade count, and speed of rotation) and an operational variable (sample size) on decortication of a corneous white grain sorghum, Funk G-766W. When other variables were fixed, increasing sample size (5- 30 g) decreased the degree of decortication. Sample size had no significant effect on breakage when milling was to a constant 10% removed. When degree of decortication was fixed at about 10% (by varying time only), using coarse rather than fine abrasive, the amount of broken grain decreased. The influence of impeller speed and blade count on breakage was studied by fixing all other variables except time, which was varied to produce 10% decortication. A family of curves representing different blade counts was generated when percent broken was plotted vs impeller speed. Breakage was lowest and nearly constant at low speed, regardless of blade count. Breakage increased as speed was raised but increased most with two blades and least with twelve. These data are useful in selecting machine and operating variables and in designing other mills.