The effect of particle size on the physical properties of Arabic gum powder

Abstract

Arabic gum is derived from the exudation of stems and branches of Acacia senegal L. and it is widely used as a food additive. The application of Arabic gum as a functional food ingredient is significantly increasing. However, there is limited information on the effects of particle size on the handling and processing of Arabic gum in the industry. Therefore, a study was performed to determine the effects of particle size on the physical properties of Arabic gum powder. The physical properties measured were density, flowability, and dissolution characteristics. In this work, the powders were classified based on their mean diameter (d50) that ranged between 20 and 1,000 μm. The very fine powder exhibited poor flowing properties and long dissolution time, with a Hausner ratio of 1.24 ± 0.1 and dissolution time of 2,821.0 ± 76.0 s. However, the coarse powder had excellent flowing properties and shorter dissolution time, with a Hausner ratio of 1.13 ± 0.02 and dissolution time of 531.5 ± 70.5 s. The results indicated a significant impact of particle size on the cohesivity and solubility of powder, where smaller particle size tended to decrease flowability and increase the dissolution time of the powder. Practical applications This paper studies the characterization of Arabic gum at various particle sizes. The physical properties measured were density, flowability, and dissolution of Arabic gum powder. The results of this study indicate that particle size had significantly affected the powder properties. This knowledge is very important, as Arabic gum is widely used as a food ingredient; this might affect the overall product properties. The outcomes are also beneficial to the industry prior to selecting the specific particle size for the designing and processing of products. Therefore, the results on flowability and dissolution properties of Arabic gum powder can be used as guidance for the development of food product.

Moisture‐dependent engineering properties of arugula seed relevant in mechanical processing and bulk handling

“…Particle density was calculated using a pycnometer with known volume and mass (Mohsenin, 1978). Porosity or void fraction, between 0 to 100%, was calculated by knowing bulk and particle density and using Equation (18) (Rosland Abel et al, 2020). …”

Comparative Analysis of the Chemical Composition and Physicochemical Properties of the Mucilage Extracted from Fresh and Dehydrated Opuntia ficus indica Cladodes

“…These values are in accordance with what was reported by Cortés-Camargo et al [60] for the particle size of the O. ficus indica mucilage (1.64 to 2.52 µm). The particle sizes found in the O. ficus indica mucilage were smaller than those of arabic gum (37 to 790 µm) [64], jackfruit pectin (363.6 µm) [65], and guar gum (46.4-315 µm) [66].…”

Development of a nozzleless electrostatic atomization equipment for the mass production of encapsulated oil powders in the liquid phase

“…Considering the spherical particles containing oil in powders, the atomization time in the present equipment would be optimized to under 60 s. Figure 8 presents the comparison of particle‐size distribution for atomization times ranging from 30 to 60 s. The median particle size of the oil encapsulated in powder was 4.6 ± 1.78 μm at 30 s and 4.1 ± 1.78 μm at 60 s, indicating that these values were relatively uniform. The particle size strongly affects on the physical properties of the powder due to a size reduction, because a size reduction process made the surface area of the particles increase and consequently leading to change the particle properties (Rosland Abel et al, 2020).…”