(631a) CFD Modeling of a Dry Electrostatic Protein Separation Approach

A lab-scale novel tribo-electrostatic separation approach has been developed as a dry fractionation technique to concurrently produce starch- and protein-rich fractions from legume and cereal flours. This dry separation technology can be easily replaced with the energy-intensive wet fractionation technologies that are currently used in industry for production of plant protein concentrates. A vertical lab-scale tribo-electrostatic separator is consisted of a vibrating bed, tribo-charging device and a separation chamber with two oppositely charged electrode plates. The vibrating fluidized bed is first used to suspend the grain flour particles in the air stream before passing them to the tribo-charger device. In the tribo-charging device, the protein and starch particles, main constituents of cereals and legumes, acquired opposite charges depending on their structures before being separated in the separation chamber with applied electric field. The legume and cereal flours were successfully enriched, almost twice, in proteins using this novel dry fractionation approach. A mathematical model has been also developed and validated using experimental data to describe the motion of charged particles in the vertical tribo-electrostatic separator under both gravitational and electric forces.