Small Scale Separation of Wheat Flour in Starch and Gluten

Abstract

A system was designed to imitate on a small scale the separation process of wheat into starch and gluten. The system provides information on gluten coagulation, on yields, purity and recovery of gluten and starch, and on losses of soluble protein and other soluble matter in waste water. The performance of the system is demonstrated with the results of the separation of four wheat varieties of different baking quality. Using these results the accuracy, reproducibility and resolution of the system are discussed.

Wet-milling properties of waxy wheat flours by two laboratory methods

“…In contrast, centrifugation of the starch milk from the control flours gave a sharp interface between the supernatant and sedimented starch with only a thin layer of tailings (darkened zone) atop the starch. Other investigators (Hamer, Weegels, Marseille, & Kelfkens, 1989;Meuser, 1994;Meuser et al, 1989;Weegels, Marseille, & Hamer, 1988;Zwitserloot, 1989a) have reported differences in the rate and extent of gluten agglomeration during wet-processing of wheat flours. The reasons for the reduced rate and strength of gluten agglomeration in flour-water doughs and slurries have not been fully understood.…”

Wet-milling of wheat flour: industrial processes and small-scale test methods

“…A modified Batter process test was designed originally for 5 kg of flour and later downsized to 1.8 kg of flour (Weegels et al, 1988;Hamer et al, 1989), and was used to fractionate flour into starch, gluten, pentosans, and solubles. The test procedure appears to be a hybrid process wherein a sheared dough-water dispersion is treated as in the Batter process to aggregate gluten particles.…”

“…Researchers (Weegels, Marseille, & Hamer, 1988;Hamer et al, 1989;Meuser, Althoff, & Huster, 1989;Zwitserloot, 1989a;Meuser, 1994;Roels, Grobet, & Delcour, 1998a;Roels, Sindic, Deroanne, & Delcour, 1998b;Wang, Hamer, Vliet, & Oudgenoeg, 2002;Wang, 2003;Wang et al, 2003a;Wang, Oudgenoeg, Vliet, & Hamer, 2003b) have reported differences in the rate and strength of gluten aggregation during wet-processing of wheat flours. The reasons for the various rates of the gluten aggregation in flour-water doughs and slurries are not fully understood.…”

Migration of gluten under shear flow: Influence of process parameters on separation behaviour

“…All current processes produce waste streams, carrying soluble protein, damaged starch and fibre (Day, Augustin, Batey, & Wrigley, 2006). In most published research, conventional separation seems to be heavily dependent on the flour quality (Dik, Yöndem-Makascioglu, Aytac, & Kincal, 2002;Hamer, Weegels, Marseille, & Kelfkens, 1989;Kelfkens & Hamer, 1991;Weegels, Marseille, & Hamer, 1988). Process parameters (i.e.…”

“…According to Weegels et al (1988) and Weegels, Hamer, and Schofield (1996), high-shear extraction procedures in gluten separation may damage the structure and functionality of the GMP and can result in changes in the bread-making performance of the gluten. As a result, less functional vital gluten and a lower gluten yield will be obtained if process parameters are not well-adjusted.…”