Size Reduction and Solid Screening: Grinding of Rice Abstract The aim of this experiment was to determine the

energy needed in the grinding of rice. The effect of an apertures size on the grinder hammer towards the energy required to reduce rice size was studied. The grinding of rice was carried out by using grinder hammer with different aperture. The diameter of rice was measured by using Vernier Caliper before the experiment. The rice was grinded with five different apertures which were 3.0 mm, 2.0 mm, 1.5 mm, 1.0 mm and 0.8 mm on the grinder hammer. The time needed to grind 50 g of rice for each aperture was taken and recorded. The energy for each aperture is 5.94 kJ, 26.73 kJ, 78.21 kJ, 166.98 kJ and 242.22 kJ respectively. The graph of cumulative energy against aperture size was plotted. The constant, K and the size reduction coefficient, n from equation dE/dD = KD-n was obtained and the values were 392.64 and 2.5 respectively.

1. Introduction According to Sivasankar (2002), size reduction and screening are one of the conversion operations applied in most of the food industry. Size reduction is carried out in order to reduce the size of raw materials used for efficient and effective flow of materials in the processing line. Through size reduction, the surface area of the material increases. The increased surface area of materials causes the production rate to be increased as many of the operations involved, such as solids drying, blanching, and blending are highly affected by the surface area. There are three different groups of forces involved in size reduction, which are compressive forces, impact forces, and shear forces. Impact forces are applied during the grinding of rice in this experiment. There are many factors that can influence the size reduction rate, time taken, and energy needed for grinding. One of the factors that is being tested in this experiment is the aperture size used on the grinder hammer. The aperture size used affects the grinding process of rice. The smaller the aperture size applied during grinding, the rice grinded will be smaller, but the energy used will be more, thus the size reduction rate decreases. More time is taken to achieve the desired reduction of size. In contrast, the larger the aperture size used in the grinding process, the rice grinded will be larger compared to the one with application of small aperture. Thus, the energy used will be lesser and size reduction rate is higher. Besides, the characteristics of the material can also affect the size reduction rate. The characteristics include hardness, toughness, abrasiveness, stickiness, and softening or melting temperature. More energy is needed during grinding of hard and abrasive materials. This will also cause an increase in the wear and tear

of the grinding equipment. Crystalline structure of material is easier to be reduced in its size as it is easily separated by compressive and impact forces. Moisture content of materials can also affect the size reduction and energy needed. High moisture content can cause the clogging of grinder. However, small quantities of water are useful in suppressing dust and preventing fire hazard. There are three size reduction laws that can be applied in size reduction which are the Bonds Law, Kicks Law, and Rittingers Law. The cumulative energy is determined from the power value of grinder and the time use for grinding by using the equation as below: E = VIt where V = voltage (V); I = current flow (Amp); t = time for grinding (s) The equation that is used to link energy used with size of product is: dE/dD = KD-n where E = cumulative energy, (Joules); D = aperture size, (mm) 2. Materials and Methods 2.1 Materials Rice, Vernier caliper, grinder hammer 2.2 Methods The diameter of rice was determined by using Vernier caliper before the experiment. 50 g of rice was weighed for each grinding. The biggest aperture, which is 3.0 mm, was fixed on the grinder hammer and the rice was grinded. The time needed to grind 50 g of rice was taken and recorded. The same steps were repeated for the other four aperture size, which are 2.0 mm, 1.5 mm, 1.0 mm and 0.8 mm. The grinder was let to cool down when it became overheated. 3. Result and discussion Table 1: Time taken for rice grinding at different aperture size diameter of product Rice Sample I II Average Diameter (mm) Length (mm) 1.7 6.1 1.8 6.8 1.75 6.45

Table 2: Time taken and energy needed for rice grinding with different aperture size of sieves. Size of aperture, D (mm) 3.0 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.8 18 81 237 506 734 5.94 26.73 78.21 166.98 242.22 5.94 32.67 110.88 277.86 520.08 0.48 0.30 0.18 0 -0.10 25.00 50.00 275.00 250.00 800.00 1.40 1.70 2.44 2.40 2.90 Time (s) Energy, E ( kJ) Cumulative energy (kJ) Log D dE/ dD Log dE/ dD

Graph of Cumulative Energy, E against Aperture ize, D

600 Cumulative energy, E (KJ) 500 400 300 200 100 0 0.8 1.0 1.5 Aperture size, D (mm) 2.0 3.0

Figure 1: Graph of Cumulative Energy against Aperture Size

y = -2.4818x + 2.5949 3.5 3 log dE/dD 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 Log D 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Data

Figure 2: Graph of log dE/dD against log D

From the graph of log dE/dD against log D in Figure 2, the equation obtained is y = -2.481x +2.594. From the equation obtained, the value of n and K in equation dE/dD = KD-n are: n = 2.5; K = 392.64

Size reduction of comminution is an important unit operation that is widely used in food industry and it is carried out for a variety of purposes. Size reduction helps in the extraction of the desired components from food raw materials, for instance, flour from wheat grain and juice from sugar cane. This process also reduces the size particles of food, thereby increases the surface area of the food particles and aids in increasing the rates of many processes (Sivasankar, 2005). The size reduction operation that involves solid materials is known as grinding or cutting. Grinding reduces the size of solid materials by mechanical action, dividing them into smaller particles. In food industry, the most extensive application of grinding is in the milling of grains to make flour (Earle, 1983). It is crucial to understand the characteristics of the feed materials as this will decide the nature of forces and types of equipment used to carry out size reduction. The nature forces required to run the process are mainly categorized into three groups, which are compressive forces, impact forces and shear or attrition forces. Compressive forces are generally used in crushing hard materials such as nuts in roller crushers. Impact forces are employed in hammer mills for coarse, medium and fine grinding operations. On the other hand, shear forces are suitable in fine grinding of softer and non-abrasive materials (Sivasankar, 2005). In this experiment, hammer mill was used to grind the rice sample. Rice grinding experiment was done to study the correlation between the sizes of aperture required to obtain the desired particle size with the energy required to run the grinding process, besides it also provided the information on effect of aperture size on time required to complete the grinding process. The hammer mill used the concept of impact force to crush the materials. The rice sample was crushed and pulverized between the hammers and the casing. The sample remained in the mill until it was fine enough to pass through a screen at the bottom of the casing. The sizes of apertures used in this experiment are 3.0 mm, 2.0 mm, 1.5 mm, 1.0 mm, and 0.8mm. The current and voltage were kept constant throughout the experiment so that the theoretical energy used could be calculated with the equation, E = V I t, where the time was the variable. Based on the results obtained, a graph of cumulative energy used versus aperture size was plotted to investigate the relationship between them. Referring to Figure 1, the graph illustrated that the cumulative energy used was inversely proportional to the aperture size used. The energy required to complete the grinding process increased as the sizes of apertures decreased. Besides, the grinding process took longer time to complete if the smaller aperture size was used. This was because a higher amount of energy was required to grind the rice to a smaller size, so that the sample was able to pass through the screen with smaller aperture size.

As for graph of log dE/dD versus log D, the linear plot was going downward giving a negative gradient. According to Rittingers Law, the value of n obtained should be 2 for fine grinding but the experimental value obtained was 2.5. Based on the theory, the time needed to grind rice sample must be doubled when the size of apertures used was halved. However, the results obtained did not follow the theory. This showed that errors occurred during the experiment. The deviation may be due to the rice residue that was not fully grinded and left in the machine. These residues passed through the sieve tube, consequently causing the clogging of the machines, resulting in additional energy required to complete the grinding process. Moreover, errors might be caused by the machine that turned off by itself many times during the experiment due to too much heat dissipated by the machine. The value for constant, K obtained from the graph was 392.64. To minimize the errors, some precaution steps have to be taken. For instance, all the rice should not be poured together at once into the machine to prevent clogging. Clogging of sieve of the aperture happens if the rice is not grinded into the desired smaller particles and left on the aperture. Besides, the rotor should be cleaned from time to time so that the rice powder residue does not stick on it which contributes to clogging. There should be a short interval before proceeding to the next grinding process using a smaller aperture size so that the machine does not get too hot. Since only a very small amount of the energy supplied is used to creating new surface of rice, the bulk of the energy is converted to heat that may raise the temperature of the motor. Therefore, the machine should be switching off if it starts to get hot and allows it to cool for a certain period of time before restarting it for a better work efficiency. Finally, it is not allowed to insert any types of stirrer while the machine is on to prevent spoilage of machine occur. 4. Conclusion As a conclusion, the objective of this experiment has been achieved which the grinding of rice with grinder hammer had been carried out and the energy needed in the grinding rice was determined. Smaller aperture size will result in smaller size of particles, longer time required for the grinding process and higher energy required to grind the rice to desired particle size. The n value obtained is 2.5 and the constant, k obtained is 392.64. References: Earle, R. L. (1983). Unit Operations In Food Processing, Second Edition. New Zealand: Pergamon Press. Page 159-163. Sivasankar, B. (2005). Food Processing and Preservation. Third Edition. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Private. Page 178-179. Wills, B.A. & Napier- Munn, T.J. (2006) Mineral Processing Technology. 7th edition. Elsevier Ltd, U.K.

Appendices Calculations: Average diameter of rice = = 1.75 mm Average length of rice =

= 6.45 mm
To calculate the energy used for grinding, formula below used: E = VIT Where, V = voltage, V = 220V I = current, A = 1.5A T = time of grinding, s For size aperture 3.0mm, E = VIT = 220V = 5940 J = 5.94 kJ Cumulative energy = 5.94 kJ For size aperture 2.0mm, E = VIT = 220 1.5 81 1.5A 18s

= 26730 J = 26.73 kJ

Cumulative energy

= 5.94 kJ + 26.73 kJ = 32.67 kJ

For size aperture 1.5mm, E = VIT = 220 1.5 237

= 78210 J = 78.21 kJ Cumulative energy = 32.67 kJ + 78.21 kJ = 110.88 kJ For size aperture 1.0mm, E = VIT = 220 1.5 506

= 166980 J = 166.98 kJ Cumulative energy = 110.88 kJ + 166.98 kJ = 277.86 kJ For size aperture 0.8mm, E = VIT = 220 1.5 734

= 242220 J = 242.22 kJ Cumulative energy = 277.86 kJ + 242.22 kJ = 520.08 kJ

From the graph of cumulative energy (kJ) against aperture size (mm) in figure 1, gradient of curve at various value of D will get the value For 3.0 mm aperture size = = 25.00 log ( ) = log (25.00) = 1.40 .

For 2.0 mm aperture size = = 50.00 log ( ) = log (50.00) = 1.70

For 1.5 mm aperture size = = 275.00 log (

) = log (275.00)
= 2.44

For 1.0 mm aperture size = = 250.00 log (

) = log (250.00)
= 2.40

For 0.8 mm aperture size = = 800.00 log (

) = log (800.00)
= 2.9

From the graph of log dE/dD against log D in Figure 2, the equation obtained is y = -2.481x +2.594 = KD-n log Where, E = cumulative energy, (kJ) D = aperture size (mm) = -n log D + log K

K = constant n = size reduction coefficient

Based on the equation, gradient, m = -n = -2.481 and y-intercept, c = log K = 2.594 Therefore, m = -n = -2.481 n = 2.481 n 2.5 c = log K= 2.594 K = 102.594 K = 392.64

Questions 1. How does the cumulative energy changes with the changes of aperture size? What the reasons for this changes ? The cumulative energy decreases with the increases in aperture size. This is because as the aperture size increases, the time needed to grind the rice decreases. According to the formula, E= VIt where E is the total energy, V is the voltage, I is the current flow, and t is the time for grinding. Therefore, as the aperture size becomes smaller, the rice will require more input energy to grind through. As a result, the energy is higher. 2. What are the differences between the size reduction laws? Principle Kicks Law Assume that the input energy to reduce a material in size is directly proportional to the size reduction ratio. E= Kkfcloge(L1/L2) It is mainly applicable in course grinding. Rittingers Law Assume that the input energy required for reducing the size of a substance is directly proportional to the change in surface area. E= KRfc(1/L2- 1/L1) It is mainly applicable in fine grinding. Bonds Law The amount of energy required to reduce unit mass of the material from a very large particle size to a particle size of 100m. E = Ei(100/L2)1/2[1(1/q)1/2] Applicable in the range of conventional rod- mill and ball- mill grinding.

Formula Application

3. What are the difficulties that you had during this experiment? There are several difficulties encountered during this experiment. First of all, during calibration of the diameter of rice by using Vernier Caliper, students who less trained and less familiar with the proper way of reading the measurement from the scale may affect the final results collected. Besides, as the motor used in the grinding machine is not power enough to supply efficient and sufficient energy to carry out the process, inconsistent and inadequate energy input increase the difficulties and inaccuracy of the result. The control of the effective utilization of energy that used to achieve the zero loss of energy is difficult to keep in constant since the input energy has lost into environment as heat. Difficulty also met during time recording of energy required for each aperture size on grinder hammer as consistent pace between the time of pouring and start recording using the stopwatch was required. In addition, the energy used to reduce the size of rice in the grinder has been converted into heat. The released energy caused the grinder easily become overheated. Under this situation, the grinder needs to be stopped operating and let the grinder to cool down.

4. What are the precaution steps that one should consider in order to obtain precise results during the experimentation? In order to obtain a more precise result during experiment, several precaution steps were set up. First of all, the rice should be feed into the machine portion by portion instead of pouring it into the grinding machine once to prevent clogging. The grinder hammer should be cleaned before the following grinding process started as the leftover rice flour and residue might cause clogging of the sieve and extra energy required to grind the rice. The grinder should be avoided from running for a long time to prevent the machine from overheated.