An Assignment on Cereal Technology and Engineering

Course Code: FET-3339

Course Title: Cereal Technology and Engineering.

Submitted To Submitted By
Zoheb Hasan Fahad MD. Muhibullah Mondol
Lecturer ID: UG11-47-20-011
State University of Bangladesh Batch: 47
 INDEX
Serial Name of the Assignment Page No. Remarks
No.
01 Discuss the biotic factors for 02-06
the conservation of the grain

02 Discuss the effect of thermal 06-13

properties of cereal grain on
the baked products
 1) Discuss the biotic factors for the
conservation of the grain.

Biotic Factors: Biotic factors can be described as any living

components that affects another organism or shapes the ecosystem.In a
storage ecosystem, several biotic factors interact to cause damages to the
stored grains and cause degradation in quality. Insects, rodents, fungi,
bacteria, birds and mites are the main biotic factors for the conservation
of the grain. The factors are described below:

Insects
 One third of the world grain crop is lost each year during storage.
 Many grain insects preferentially eat out grain embryos – reduces
the protein content of feed grain and lowers the percentage of seed
germination.
 Important grain insects are:
 Sitophilus oryzae L. (Rice weevil). They attack cereals like
rice and cereal products such as paste, flour and buiscuits.
 Sitophilus zeamais (Maize weevil). They attack maize,
sorghum and other cereals.
 The optimum temperatures for most insects species range between
25 °C and 32 °C (Shi et al., 2012; Song et al., 2012).
 The optimum relative humidity for most species is around 70%.
 Most storage pests will die at temperatures below 5 °C and above
45 °C.
Rodents
 Rats and mice have been estimated to damage 3.5% of the world
cereal crops in common. (Jackson et al., 2000)
 Rodents prefer feeds mainly on the embryo – causes damage to the
nutritional value and germination ability of seeds.
 Diseases can be transferred to human by rodents – includes
typhoid, paratyphoid and scabies.
 Thre species of rodents are major spoilage fctor of stored products:
 Rattus rattus (Black rat)
 Rattus norvegicus (Brown rat)
 Mus musculus (House mouse)
 Rodents consume cereal crops and damage sacks and building
structers.
 Rats consume about 25gm of food per day and mice eat
approximately 3-4 gm per day.
 Contaminates much great portion of the grain with their hairs,
pathogenic agents and excretions.
 Produce leaking out of damaged bags or storage containers.

Fungi
 Storge fungi are usually not present to any serious extent before
harvest.
 Small quantities of spores of storage fungi present on spilled grain
present in harvest, handling and storage equipment or structures,
 under improper storage conditions – inoculum increases rapidly
leading to significant problems.
 Many spoilage fungi cause loss of germination in seed grains,
discolouration and darkening of the grains, reduction in protein
content, musty odours and changes in fatty acid profiles and other
constituents of the grains.
 The most common storage fungi are species of Aspergillus and
penicillium. (Christensen et al., 2009 )
 When grain moistures rises to 16 to 18% in corn and 15 to 17% in
soyabeans – results in aflatoxin production.
 Development of storage fungi in stored grain is influenced by
 Moisture content of the stored grain
 Temperature of the stored grain ( 4-10 degree celcius fungi
grows slowly, 21-25 °C grows rapidly).
 Condition of the grain going into storage.
 Length of time the grain is stored.

Bacteria
 The bacterial species that occur commonly on grain are generally
no pathogenic, sometimes contamination with bacteril pathogens
such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus can
occur.
 This may occur during harvesting, but more often is a result of
poor hygiene in road or rail trucks during transportation or poor
pest control during storage.
Mites
 Mites, the tiny (< 1 mm size) arthropods occur in grains both in
tropical and temperate regions.
 The moisture content of the grain is the critical factor for their
survival.
 They multiply rapidly in damp and moldy grain at low
temperatures.
 In heavy infestation, mites impart a characteristics odor owing to
their lipid secretions.
 Mites in stored grain may be either saprophytic (e.g. Acarus siro
and Typhophagus putrescentiae), parasitic or predatory (Pyemotes
spp, Cheyletus spp).

Birds
 Losses result from direct feeding and from contamination by their
droppings and feathers.
 Their activity starts immediately after harvest, during threshing
and drying and during sorage, particularly in bag-storage in
developing countries.
 The birds also have a role in bringing grain insects and microflora
into grain grain stores.
 Major pests are the pigeon (Columba livia) feed on the spilage and
the sparrow (Passer domesticus).
 Other opportunistics grain feeders such as parrots, doves and
weavers are of local importance.
2) Discuss the effect of thermal properties
of cereal grain on the baked products

Thermal properties
The thermal properties of cereal grain are specific heat, thermal
conductivity and thermal diffusivity. These are tabulated together with
the moisture content and the density. The properties of dough
and bread are plotted versus moisture content and density.

Specific heat
Specific heat indicates amount of heat required to change the
temperature of a material of unit mass by 1°C. In mathematical form,
specific heat Cp, is written as
Cp = Q/m ΔT
Water has a high specific heat value and in food systems, it contributes
significantly to overall specific heat capacity of material. The heat
measured is called sensible heat. When there is a phase change, there is
no change in temperature as the material undergoes from one state to
another. Here, the heat is called silent or latent heat.
Thermal Conductivity

Thermal conductivity (k) is a property of material that describes its

ability to transfer heat energy. It depends on temperature, pressure and
other physical properties 20 of material such as density and composition.
The two mechanisms proposed in thermal conductance are through
movement of electrons from region of higher temperature to region of
lower temperature where they lose their thermal energy and lattice
vibrations which increase as thermal energy increases with the former
being more efficient in metals than the latter which is more efficient in
non-metals (Venkanna 2010). Thermal conductivity is the amount of
heat energy that is transferred in a unit time through a unit thickness of
material in a given direction. Materials that are poor in thermal
conductivity are insulators while those with good thermal conductivity
are used as good heat conductors. The inverse of thermal conductivity is
thermal resistivity (Singh and Heldman 2001). Materials are classified to
good heat conductors and poor heat conductors. The formula is,

Q = KA(To – Ti) / L
Where Q is heat quantity To and Ti are the outer and inner temperature
and L is the sample thickness.

Thermal conductivity is a material property. It will not differ with the

dimensions of a material, but it is dependent on the temperature, the
density and the moisture content of the material. The thermal
conductivity of a material depends on its temperature, density and
moisture content.
Thermal Diffusivity
Thermal diffusivity indicates how fast heat can propagate through the
material under transient conduction of heat transfer conditions.
Physically it relates the ability of a material to conduct heat with its
ability to store heat. Thermal diffusivity () is measure of thermal inertia
of a material, and it is the ratio of thermal conductivity, density and
specific heat (Venkanna 2010; Singh and Heldman 2001).

α = k / ρCp
where ɑ is thermal diffusivity (m 2 /s); k is thermal conductivity
(W/mK); ρ is density (kg/m 3 ), and C p is specific heat. It measures the
rate of heat transfer through a material. The higher the rates of
temperature change in the material, the higher the thermal diffusivity.
There is a direct relationship between thermal diffusivity and thermal
conductivity (Singh and Heldman 2001).

Effects of thermal properties of cereal grain

Thermal properties such as, heat capacity, thermal conductivity and
thermal diffusivity of cereal grains has some effects on bakery products.

Effect of heat capacity

The flours had low or no fermentation capacity. High temperatures
promoted protein denaturation and aggregation, with no water binding
ability; starch gelatinises, cellulose crystallises and tissues harden . All
these phenomena affect flour breadmaking quality. Loaf volume is
mainly affected by dried temperature. Tosi et al. [19], Lupano and
An˜on [10] and Campan˜a et al. [24] reported that initial moisture
content of the grain and drying temperatures must be low in order not to
affect wheat breadmaking quality. The main effect on wheat quality
during fluidized bed drying was drying temperature and, in a lesser
extent, wheat variety and initial moisture content of the grain. Grain
hardness was more affected by thermal treatment than weight per
hectolitre. Physical properties such as weight per hectolitre and hardness
were not sensitive enough to detect heat damage in the grain.
Conversely, the detrimental effect notably affected dough mixing
characteristics and loaf volume. Dough mixing time, as measured in a
mixograph, showed changes in viscoelastic properties of wheat dough in
a direct relationship to gluten denaturation, estimated by changes in loaf
volume. Wheat quality deterioration due to excessive heating (80 to
100C) promoted a reduction in wheat breadmaking characteristics, with
deficient or no leavening. Adequate drying at 40 to 60C of grain with
17% initial moisture content seemed to have an improving effect on
grain quality. A soft wheat variety, Salamanca, with 9% protein content
was more affected by heat treatment than a hard wheat variety, Oasis,
with 11% protein content.

Effect of thermal conductivity

Thermal conductivity values of white bread were determined during heat
processing to provide information for analytical modeling required
during convective heat and mass transfer of the baking process. Selected
physical properties of bread were determined: moisture, volume, bulk
density and porosity. White bread was baked in a forced‐air convection
oven for 8, 16, 24 and 32 min. Thermal conductivity values ranged from
0.00072–0.00064 watts/cm‐°C. Although a downward trend was
observed and explained, no significant differences were revealed among
thermal conductivity values. Thermal conductivity values were
indirectly linearly dependent (p>0.05) on volume and porosity; directly,
to bulk density and moisture loss.
The thermal conductivity of a specific material is highly dependent on a
number of factors. These include the temperature gradient, the properties
of the material, and the path length that the heat follows.
The conductivity invariably increases with increasing temperature. It is
affected by the nature of the ions, and by viscosity of the water. All
these processes are quite temperature dependent, and as a result,
the conductivity has a substantial dependence on temperature.

For bakery products, thermal conductivity was determined in the

temperature interval of 24.35°C to 64.15°C. GRIFFITH (1985)
determined the thermal conductivity of a reconstituted cornbased tortilla
dough using the temperature history method. The author calculated
thermal conductivity from the slope of the time-temperature curve and
the temperature difference between the center and the surface.
MOREIRA et al. (1995) gave very useful experimental tips for the
thermal conductivity measurement of thin products (tortilla chips) using
a line heat source probe. The thermal conductivity of the test materials
was measured at 35, 44, 53.3, and 62.5°C. Based on the experimental
thermal conductivity values of wheat flour dough and baked chapati, the
author developed equations for the moisture range of 35% to 50%,
temperatures 30°C to 60°C, and density of 1000–1200 kg/m3 .So, for
bakery products, thermal conductivity is very important.

Effect of thermal diffusivity

In physical terms, thermal diffusivity gives a measure of how quickly
the temperature will change when it is heated or cooled. Materials with a
high thermal diffusivity will heat or cool quickly; conversely, substances
with a low thermal diffusivity will heat or cool slowly.For bread, the
thermal diffusivity is required for the assessment of heating and cooling
processes , temperature changes in living spaces and thermal stresses in
components. Experimental values of thermal diffusivity in the low
moisture range were obtained directly for bread, using the transient
method of Dickension(1965). An evaluation of published data indicates
a strong effect of physical structure (especially porosity) on the thermal
diffusivity.A similar effect has been observed on the moisture
diffusivity, density and heat capacity of the bread.
REFERENCES
1) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/
0260877489900393
2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11497327/
3) https://www.slideshare.net/VinithaKannan1/biotic-
factors-in-grain-storage
4) Thomas, Ryan (2019). "Fundamental of Ecology". Marine
Biology: An Ecological Approach (reprint ed.). Waltham
Abbey, Essex: Scientific e-Resources (published 2020).