The possibilities of wheat roller milling optimization using the response surface methodology

Abstract

Roller mills are one of the most frequently used grinding machines especially for cereal milling. Magnitude and type of the forces acting on particle depend on the set of roll parameters. Particle size distribution (PSD) resulting from milling a particular feed size critically depends on the ratio of roll-gap to input particle size. Box-Behnken experimental design was applied in order to optimize roll-gap adjustments and desired PSD of the milling output obtained by subsequent grinding of wheat on three pair of rollers. Adequate models, which allow the optimization of the milling process, were obtained by regression analysis. Values that define the PSD of the output, i.e. weight fractions of the milling output size fractions, were set to minimum, maximum or values within a certain interval. The examples of optimization which set the roll-gap values to ensure the desired PSD of the output, were obtained with a high level of desirability.

Keywords

• wheat
• milling
• response surface methodology
• optimization