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Depending upon the requirement
of end product various processing techniques are
used. In India the commercial production of Guar
gum is normally undertaken by using process of
roasting, differential attrition, sieving and
polishing.
The stage wise process of manufacturing
food grade guar gum is as under. It is very important
to select guar split in this process. The split
will be screened to clean and then it will be
soaked to prehydrate in a double cone mixer/Washing
conveyor. Prehydrating stage is very important
in the process as it derives the rate of hydration
of the final product.
The soaked splits, which has
reasonably high moisture content, will be passed
through Flacker to take them. The flaked guar
split will be predried in duct dryer. The dried
guar flake will be ground to desired particle
size in ultrafine grinder followed by drying of
the material in flash dryer. The power will be
screened through rotary screens to deliver required
particle size. The oversize will be either recycle
to main Ultra fine or regrind in separate regrind
plant, as per viscosity requirement.
This stage helps to reduce the
load at the grinder. The soaked splits are difficult
to grind. Direct grinding generates more heat
in the grinder which is not desired in the process
as it results in insoluble or reduced hydration
of the product. Through heating, grinding &
polishing process the husk is separated from the
endosperm halves and the refined Guar Gum split
are obtained. Through grinding process the refined
Guar split are then treated and converted into
powder.
During the split manufacturing
process, husk & germ are obtained which are
used as a cattle feed as they are rich in protein.
It is widely sold in the international market
as "Guar Meal" and has contents of "Oil
& Albuminoids". These contents are about
50% in germ whereas it is about 25% in husks.
Quality of the food grade guar gum powder is defined
from its particle size, rate of hydration and
the microbial in it. E412 guar gum is an important
natural food supplement with high nutritional
value.
Equipments for guar gum processing
plant:
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