Determination of the Effects of Particle Size and Morphology of Some Model Food Powders on Powder Flowability Using Powder Flow Tester

Abstract

Determination of powder flow behaviour is very important due to the importance of their technological applications. Use of powder flowability data in the design of hoppers is one example. Investigation of the parameters such as particle size, particle size distribution, particle shape, chemical composition, water content and temperature which affect flowability is necessary. Within this work a powder flow tester (PFT) from Brookfield Engineering Laboratories Inc. was employed to assess the flow behaviour of table sugar and rock salt powders having varied size fractions. Flow function, bulk density as well as compressibility of powder samples were tested. The rock salt and table sugar powders were grinded, screened and fractioned into 5 fractions of rock salt and 7 fractions of table sugar powder. The results indicated that increasing particle size led to increasing flowability and bulk density while decreasing compressibility. The threshold particle size range which changes these parameters significantly was notes as 100-200 µm.