Measurement of Particle Size Distribution Attained from the Sago Sizing Mechanism

Particle size distribution (PSD) affects the properties of granular materials and is used for designating their quality and performance. Traditionally, the determination of particle size distribution derived from mechanical system (sieving) is a time consuming method and difficult to measure the cohesive and food materials. At present, the image analyses techniques are used to determine the particle size distribution especially for cohesive and agglomerated particles. In this work, the particle size distributions of three grades of sago pearls are investigated by using the image analysis methods. Three grades of sago pearls are experimentally obtained from the innovative sago sizing mechanism by the different rotational speeds of bowl. The mixed shapes of particles including elliptical and spherical on particle size distribution are investigated. It is observed that, the median particle size is between 7.0 mm to 8.0 mm at lowest rotational speed and 2.0 mm to 3.0 mm at highest rotational speed of the mechanism.