FST 559 UNIT OPERATIONS

CHAPTER 5
SIZE REDUCTION
(Comminution)
 CHAPTER 5.1
SIZE REDUCTION
(SOLID)

CHAPTER OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:-

a) Explain the principle and application of size

reduction.
b) Differentiate Grinding, cutting and slicing
equipment
1 JAM
 Definition of size reduction (SR)

• SR is the operation carried out for reducing the size of bigger

particles into smaller one of desired size and shape with the help of
external forces.
• Comminution is another term used for SR.
• Example: Grinding wheat kernels into wheat flour.
• It is called homogenization (i.e. reduction in size of globules of immiscible
liquids) in liquids.
• Other related terms:
• Atomization - Size reduction of liquids by droplets
• Extrusion, Agglomeration or Forming - Size enlargement
 SR in Foods

Size reduction

Solid Liquid

Cutting Grinding Atomization Emulsification

 Mechanism of size reduction for solids

• Impact- particle concussion by a single rigid force (e.g. hammer)

• Compression- particle disintegration by two rigid forces (e.g.
nutcracker)
• Shear- produced when the particle is compressed between the edges
of two hard surfaces moving tangentially
• Attrition- arising from particles scraping against one another or
against a rigid surface.
 Benefits of SR in food processing

• Increase in the surface-area-to-volume ratio of the food which

increases the rate of drying, heating or cooling and the efficiency
and rate of extraction of liquid components. Eg. Fruit juice,
cooking oil extraction
• When combined with screening, a predetermined range of
particle sizes is produced which is important for the correct
functional or processing properties of some products. Eg. Icing
sugar, spices, corn starch
• A similar range of particle sizes allows more complete mixing of
ingredients. Eg. Dried soup and cake mixes
 SR is classified based on the size range of
particles
• Chopping, cutting, slicing and dicing
• Large to medium (cheese and sliced fruit for canning)
• Medium to small (diced carrot)
• Small to granular (minced meat, flaked fish or nuts and shredded
vegetables)
• Milling to powders or pastes of increasing fineness (grated
products > spices > flours > fruit nectars > powdered sugar >
starches > smooth pastes)
• Emulsification and homogenization (mayonnaise, milk, essential
oils, butter, ice cream and margarine)
 REDUCTION RATIO
• a)
  Particle size is frequently referred to as screen aperture size.
b) Commonly used is the arithmetic average particle diameter
obtained from screen analysis on samples of the feed and product
stream.

Coarse crusher, R.R < 8:1

Fine grinding, R.R=100:1
 Properties of food materials affecting SR

a) Hardness and abrasiveness of feed

A mill must be operated at low speed for hard material to reduce wear.
b) Mechanical structure
Impact and shear force for crystalline and/or friable materials whereas shredding and/or
cutting for fibrous materials
c) Moisture
Moisture must be between 2 and 3 % to prevent clogging due to agglomeration. However,
small quantity of water is needed for the suppression of dust.
d) Temperature sensitivity of feed
Particles are stressed within their limit without fracture in the action zone. When force is
exerted, the strain energy absorbed is released as heat while stress is removed. Therefore,
mills require cooling facilities (e.g. jackets or coils) around its action zone when dealing with
heat sensitive materials.
e) Specific gravity, chemical stability, homogeneity, purity, stickiness,
softening or melting temperature.
 HARDNESS AND ABRASIVENESS
a) Hardness - is the degree of resistance on the surface of a particle to
penetrate by another body.

b) Abrasiveness - is the ability to abrade or wear surfaces with which they

come into contact.

c) Hardness of material is expressed on Mohr’s scale – a numerical index

ranging from 1 for talc (the softness minerals) to 10 for diamond (the
hardness known material)

d) Most food are either very soft (<1.5 Moh); soft (1.5 to 2.5 Moh) or medium
hard (2.5 to 4.5 Moh)

e) Many food materials are normally soft according to these criteria and thus,
the problems related to strength of materials normally faced in the food
industry have to do with attrition and friability.
Hardness Material Common Practical Test
Number
1 Talc, grahite Marks paper like a pencil
2 Rock salt Can scratch lead
3 Calcite Can scratch fingernail
4 Iron Can scratch copper coin
5 Tooth enamel Can cut all food
6 Titanium Can scratch window glass
7 Quartz Can scratch a knife blade
8 Topaz -
9 Sapphire -
10 Diamond Can cut diamond
 FRIABILITY AND ATTRITION
a) Attrition is the actual, unwanted breakdown of particle due to their
corners or irregular surfaces being knocked off.
b) Attrition is a serious problem in most of the food processes where dry
handling is involved since it may cause dust formation, health hazard,
equipment damage and material loss.
c) Friability is a tendency of particles breakdown during storage and
handling.

Mechanisms of attrition
 Milling configuration
a) Open circuit milling
• Crushing or grinding will give a large range of particle sizes.
• Open circuit is the simplest but gives greatest range of particle sizes.

b) Remilling gives a more uniform particle size as over prolonged milling, one size tends to
dominate:

c) Closed circuit milling

• adds a separator to reduce energy consumption (about 25% savings), with separation screens
used for coarse particles and air separators for fine.
• The mill runs continuously, producing a uniform particle size.
 The grinding laws

•  Amount of energy required for size reduction of solid foods can be

theoretically calculated based on the following equation:
 Kick’s Law
• Kick’s law states that the energy required to reduce the size of particles
is proportional to the ratio of the initial size of a typical dimension (Ex:
diameter) to the final size of that dimension:
E (J) = Energy required per mass of feed

ln
 
KK = Kick’s constant
d1 (m) = Average initial size of pieces
d2 (m) = Average size of ground particles
d1/d2 = Size reduction ratio (RR)
RR is used to evaluate relative performance of diff types of equipment
RR Course Grinding: < 8 : 1; RR Fine Grinding: > 100 : 1

Rittinger’s Law
• Rittinger’s law states that the energy required for size reduction is
proportional to the change in surface area of the pieces of food (instead
of a change in dimension as described in Kick’s law):

  𝟏 𝟏
𝑬=𝑲 𝑹
( 𝒅𝟐
−
𝒅𝟏 )
Comparison between Kick’s law and Rittinger’s law

• This is a very much smaller reduction, in terms of energy per unit mass
for the smaller particles, than that predicted by Kick's Law.

• It has been found, experimentally, that for the grinding of coarse

particles in which the increase in surface area per unit mass is relatively
small, Kick's Law is a reasonable approximation.

• For the size reduction of fine powders, on the other hand, in which large
areas of new surface are being created, Rittinger's Law fits the
experimental data better.
 Bond’s Law
• Bond’s law is used to calculate the energy required for size reduction
from:

• In practice;
• Kick’s law gives reasonably good results for coarse grinding in which
there is a relatively small increase in surface area per unit mass.
• Rittinger’s law gives better results with fine grinding where there is a
much larger increase in surface area.
• Bond’s law is intermediate between these two.
Example:
•Sugar
  crystals were grounded from an average diameter of 500 to powder
with an average diameter of 100 . The net energy consumption was 0.5
kWh/tonne. Estimate the net energy consumption for grinding the crystals
to 50 according to Rittinger’s law and Kick’s law.

(FST559, June, 2018)

 New surface formed by grinding

• When a uniform particle is crushed, after the first crushing the size of
the particles produced will vary a great deal.
coarse > fine >dust
• As the grinding continues, the coarser particles will be further reduced
but there will be less change in the size of the fine particles.
• Careful analysis has shown that there tends to be a certain size that
increases in its relative proportions in the mixture and which soon
becomes the predominant size fraction.
• For example, wheat after first crushing gives a wide range of particle
sizes in the coarse flour, but after further grinding the predominant
fraction soon becomes that passing a 250mm sieve and being retained
on a 125 mm sieve.
New surface formed by grinding (cont…)

• The surface area of a fine particulate material is large and can be

important.
• Most reactions are related to the available surface area, so the surface
area can have a considerable bearing on the properties of the material.
• For example, wheat in the form of grains is relatively stable in a long
term as long as it is being kept dry.
• If it is ground to a finer flour (larger surface per unit mass), then it
becomes liable to explosive oxidation.
• The surface area per unit mass is called the specific surface. 
 Shape factors are dimensionless quantities

Cubes Spheres
•Area
  •Area
 

Volume Volume

 A shape factor is now defined as so that for a cube or a sphere It has been
found, experimentally, that for many materials when ground, the shape factor of
the resulting particles is approximately 1.75, which means that their surface area-
to-volume ratio is nearly twice that for a cube or a sphere.
New surface formed by grinding (cont…)

• The
  surface area-to-volume ratio is

; for a given mass,

• The total area of the mass of particle is

; we know that

Equation can be combined with the results of sieve analysis to estimate the total surface
area of a powder.
Question:

•Spherical
  sorghum grain (diameter 5 mm) is ground using a plate mill in open
circuit operation, and the milled product is segregated by sieving. The average
particle shape factor after milling is determined to be and the sorghum density
is . Based on the table below for a 10 kg sample, estimate the increase in surface
area due to milling. Assume that the average particle shape factor before milling is
1.25.

Screen Weight
aperture size retained
(mm) on screen (Kg)
2.84 2.23
1.98 3.53
0.175 3.20
0.125 1.05
MILLING EQUIPMENTS
 1. CRUSHING ROLL
a) Crushing is referred to the reduction of the coarse materials to a size of about
3mm.
b) Two or more heavy steel cylinders revolve towards each other at a differential
speed.
c) Particles of feed are nipped/squeezed and pulled through the rolls, experiencing
a compressive force which crushes them.
d) The throughput rate and the feed size are determined by roller length, diameter
and speed of rotation and ‘nip’.
e) Large diameter 50-300 rpm and R.R <5.
f) An overload compression spring protects the roller surface from damage but
hard foreign bodies should not be allowed.
 2. HAMMER MILL
a) High speed rotor with hammers swing in a circular motion inside a closed casing
containing a breaker plate.
b) Feed pass into the action zone where hammer drives the material against the
breaker plate.
c) Reduction is due to impact forces, but attrition forces also play a part under choke
feeding condition.
d) Hammers are replaced by cutters or bars for fibrous material, vegetable matter
and sticky materials.
e) Application: grinding peppers and spices, dried milk, sugar and dried chocolate
beverages.
f) Products : Spices, wheat, sugar, extracted bones
 3. DISC ATTRITION MILL
i) Single disc mill:

a) The feed passes into a narrow gap between

a high speed, rotating grooved disc and the
stationary casing of the mill.

b) The gap is adjustable depending on the feed

size and product requirement

c) Products : cereals, lactose, milk powders

ii) Double disc mill

a) Two discs rotate in opposite directions

giving a greater degree of shear than that
in the single disc mill.

b) The disc also carry studs (metal projected

from discs) which aid disintegration – pin
disc
 4. BUHR MILL (PLATE MILL)
a) Two circular stones are mounted on a vertical axis.
b) The upper stone, which is often fixed has a feed entry port and the
lower stone rotates.
c) The feed material passes to the gap between the upper and lower
stones and is subjected to the shearing force.
d) If both stones rotate, it will be in opposite direction.
e) It is used in wet milling of corn for the separation of starch gluten
from the hulls
 5. BALL MILL
•   Two types of forces that result in size reduction - shear and compressive force.
a)

b) Balls of smaller size will give a better contact surface area while ball of larger size will give a
larger compressive force.

c) If the speed of the ball mill is low, then the shear force will predominate.

d) If the speed of the ball mill is high, the compressive force will predominate.
e) If the speed of the ball mill is too high, the centrifugal force will exist and there will not be any
grinding occurred

f) The speed that is suitable is 75% of the critical speed. Critical speed is the speed that the ball starts
to experience centrifugal force.

g) At extremely high speed of the ball mill, centrifugal force = gravitational force.

h) Critical speed Nc:

i) =;
Question:

• Calculate the operating speed of the

ball mill from the following data:
• Diameter of ball mill = 500 mm
• Diameter of ball = 40 mm
• Operating speed is 50% of the
critical speed of the mill
Ball mill
 6. ROLLER MILL
•a)  It can be one or several set of rollers
b) Size reduction is by compressive force and the RR is normally below 5
c) Obtainable size range is 30 m and detectable on human tongue is 25 m
d) It is widely used for the milling of wheat and refining of chocolate, sugar cane, wheat.
e) Chocolate refining
• The refining of chocolate paste is important to produce the smooth texture so desirable in
chocolate confectionary.

• Refining is carried out to an extreme, producing choc. with min. particle size (<25), the
texture become smooth and slimy, particularly with milk choc.

• The ability of other large particles (sugar, cocoa and milk crumb) to aggregate also produce a
different sensation on the palates.

• The roll refiners are precision made machines consisting of five roll mounted vertically with
bottom feed roll offset. The speed of the rotation of the rolls increases from the bottom to
top (i.e. differential). It allows the chocolate film to be transferred from one roll to the next
in shearing action in the nip of the roll. The main force is still compression.
Five-Roll Refining
 CHAPTER 5.2
SIZE REDUCTION
(LIQUID)

CHAPTER OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, students should be able
to:-

a) Explain the principle and application of size

reduction for liquid
b) Differentiate types of emulsification equipments
1 JAM
 TYPES OF PHASE DISPERSION
• Phase dispersion:-
a) Solid in liquids – flour in hot batter

b) Liquids (fat) in solid (cocoa, milk powder, sucrose, lecithin)

– chocolate

c) Liquids/solids in gases – aerosol cans, cream

d) Gases in liquids – soft drinks, whipped cream

Emulsion destabilization of milk
 INTERFACIAL TENSION (g)
a) Interfacial tension is the work required to increase the area of contact
between two phases expressed as force per unit length (N m-1 or dynes cm-
1
).
b) In emulsion, oil in water internal phase will always coalesce to form larger
droplets and eventually a layer of cream or fat produced.
c) We need to break up these large droplets into smaller droplets.
d) The higher the interfacial tension, the more work is needed to form many
small droplets of internal phase (to break up the larger droplets).
e) The higher the interfacial tension the more difficult to form an emulsion
and the less stable the emulsion is likely to be.
Interfacial tensions (g) of various interfaces in
milk compared to others
Interface Between Phases g (mN m-1)
Water – air 72
22 mM Na laurate in water-air 43
0.3 mM stearate in water-air 43
n-Octane-air 22
Water-n-octane 51
Milk plasma-air 48
Sweet cream buttermilk-air 40
Liquid milk fat-air 34
Liquid milk fat-water 20
Liquid milk fat-milk plasma 15
Liquid milk fat-protein solutions 10-15
Milk fat globule-milk plasma 2a
Liquid fat-fat crystal (a modification) 10

a
measured values range from 1 to 2.5 mN m-1
 EMULSIFIER, STABILISER AND
THICKENER
• Emulsifiers and emulsifier salts
Substances that modify surface tension in the component phase of an
emulsion to establish a uniform dispersion or emulsion.

• Stabilizers and thickeners

Substances that can produce:
a) viscous solutions or dispersions,
b) impart body
c) improve consistency
d) stabilize emulsions
• Surface-active agents:
Substances used to modify surface properties of liquid
food components for a variety of effects such as:
a) Solubilizing
b) Dispersants
c) Detergents
d) Wetting
e) Rehydration
f) whipping
g) Defoaming
HLB=Hydrophile-Lypophile Balance
Low HLB (<9)-lypophilic; High HLB (>11)-hydrophilic; Intermediate HLB (9-11)
Functions of emulsifiers can be classified based on HLB!
HLB range Use

4-6 W/O emulsifiers

7-9 Wetting agents

8-18 O/W emulsifiers

13-15 Detergents

10-18 Solubilizers
 ACTION OF EMULSIFYING AGENT
Emulsifying agents are normally molecules containing both polar and non-
polar groups:
a) The non polar groups have an affinity to oil and will point towards
oil phase
b) The polar groups have an affinity to aqueous phase (e.g water) will
point towards the aqueous phase.
c) As a result, a layer of emulsifying agent is formed at the interface.
d) This layer acts as a protective coating on the droplets of the internal
phase, preventing them from coalescing.
Stabilization of emulsion with the use of
emulsifying agent
EMULSIFICATION EQUIPMENTS
 1. PRESSURE HOMOGENISER
a) Crude emulsion - pumped with the pressure of 10 000 psi through a
small gap created by the valve at a few thousand of an inch.
b) On entering the gap, the liquid accelerates and its droplets of the
internal phase shear against each other, are deformed and disrupted.
c) As the liquid leaves the gap, the droplets hit on a hard surface and
disrupted further.
c) The pressure will drop, bubbles will collapse due to cavitations and
the droplets of the internal phase will be reduced.
d) Double stage homogenizer is used for a uniform homogenization.
Single stage homogenisation device
 Single stage homogenisation device

1- Forcer
2-Imapct Ring
3- seat
4-Hydraulic actuator
 Homogenization

Single-stage Two-stage
Change in Surface Area to Volume Ratio due
to size reduction/homogenization
••  For spherical particles:

=

= =
Example:

•If   milk containing 4 wt% fat (density 900 kg/m3) is homogenized to

reduce its average fat globule size of 5 m to 1 m, compute the change
in fat globules’ total surface area per 100 g of milk.
(FST559,Sept 2017)
 2. COLLOID MILL
a) Colloid mills - used to grind and disperse solids in liquids and to prepare
emulsion
b) Crude emulsion passes through small gap between stator and rotor
c) The emulsion is subjected to shear and turbulence - internal phase is
dispersed.
d) For low viscosity, feed is introduced under gravity and rotor speed is 3000
to 15 000 rpm while rotor turning on a horizontal axis against a stator with
a clearance between 50 to 150 mm. The expected droplets size is 1-2 mm.
e) For high viscosity, rotor turns on vertical axis at the speed of 3000 to 10 000
rpm. It is better known as paste mill.
 3. ULTRASONIC EMULSIFICATION DEVICES
• 
a) The liquid is exposed to high energy ultrasonic waves at more than 16 kHz.
b) Fluctuation in pressure will cause bubbles to expand and contract. i.e cavitation.
d) Cavitation occurs at the interface between liquids and thus one phase will become
dispersed in the other.
e) For example, the resonator, the liquid is pumped (50-200 psi) through a nozzle and
hit the vibrating blade.
f) The blade resonates and imparts waves of ultrasonic frequency (18-30kHz) to the
liquid. The disperse phase droplet size is about 1-2 .
g) This type of homogeniser is used for the production of salad cream, ice cream,
synthetic creams, baby foods and essential oil emulsions.
h) It is also used for dispersing powders in liquids.
Ultrasonic homogenizer
 4. SPRAY DRYER
a) A fine dispersion of pre-concentrated foods is first atomised to form droplets
(10-200 mm)

b) The food slurry is sprayed through a small nozzle and sprayed into a current
of heated air at 150-300 oC in a large drying chamber.

c) Rapid drying takes place (1-10 s) because of the very large surface area of
the droplets.

d) Foods that can be spray-dried are milk, egg, coffee, cocoa, tea, potato,
ground chicken, ice cream mix, butter, cream, yoghurt and cheese powder,
coffee whitener, fruit juices, meat and yeast extracts, encapsulated flavours
and wheat and corn starch products.

e) Spray driers vary in size from small pilot scale models for low volume high
value products (e.g. enzymes and flavours) to large commercial models
capable of producing 80 000 kg of dried milk per day.
Spray dryer