Brown Rice Flour Rheology

Abstract

Brown rice flour has been used as a primary ingredient in many food products. The particulate rheology of brown rice flour is illustrated. The grinding procedure, to make brown rice flour, varies based on the locality and availability of milling machines. The chemical and particulate characteristics depend on the flour milling procedure employed. Understanding the particulate rheological behaviour of rice flour is important to design process flow, processing equipment, and storage vessel. A comparative evaluation of the flow properties of brown rice flours milled using a traditional stone mill and a modern hammer mill is described. Discrete properties such as density, dynamic flow, and shear flow behaviour of brown rice flour were determined. The particle size distribution of flours depended on the milling technique. The angle of internal friction (AIF) of stone mill ground flours was higher than that of hammer mill ground flours. The shear test results indicated that the stone mill ground flours had higher cohesiveness than hammer mill ground flour and, thus, had relatively less flowability than hammer mill ground flours. The milling technique influenced the flow properties of the brown rice flours.