research and development

What is research and development?

According to UNESCO’s definition of research and development: “Any coherent and creative activity in order to raise the level of the scientific knowledge, including the knowledge of man, culture, society and use this knowledge for new applications is called research and development”; or research and development refer to a creative work that is done systematically, to add to the existing knowledge and apply it to new applications.

In all manufacturing centers, research and development plays the most basic role in the production process. Currently, research and development activities are considered as a kind of essential investment; so that the amount of this investment is growing at the firm level and it is an important indicator for businesses development and the world’s countries. Meanwhile, the industrialized countries have been allocated a vast majority of their income and work forces to official activities of applied research and technology development through non-profit institutions and production and business units. This causes that lots of materials and the products of new processes and systems are achieved and these products are the ultimate source of economic progress.

With the collaboration of a major set of subsystems, research and development unit will have a good performance. The subsystems of review and the strategy of exploiting the project results are considered line subsystems. Project planning, project implementation, and research and development management subsystem, which act as research and development staff, will monitor the performance of other sub-systems and support them.

The aim of research and development is to create order, increase the supply of scientific and technical knowledge as well as the efficiency of this knowledge in the invention and design new users. The identification of the talent, the emergence of ideas, creation, design, production, introduction and issuing of a product or a technological system are very important in this process.

Research and development in the production of flour

According to what was said, research and development is essential for production, which should be implemented in all production units. Hence, the process of flour production needs research and development and should be perform in all production units.

Research and development in production begin from the first stage, that is planting and the harvest. Raw materials play an important role in producing various high-quality flours; and hence, a great deal of research and development should be allocated to the production of raw materials, that is the wheat. To this end, research and development unit will focus on the processes and the processed products in a large scale (equivalent to several tons per day).

Research and development experts in flour factory control and monitor all stages of the flour production by relying on a variety of experiences, such as flour expertise, chemists, experts in food technology, health experts, as well as taking advantage of the advanced laboratory equipments.

Research and development tasks

Energy efficiency
Reduce emissions and waste management
Conduct applied research and development
Process minerals to the final product
Enhanc the portion of domestic resources in the production process
Development of products based on qualitative criteria
Absorption, reform, innovation, adaptation and development of technology
Increase productivity by promoting and evaluating factors
Reduce the cost of raw materials and products
Improve existing processes with emphasis on improving the level of automation
Designe new products based on its practical advantages

Equipment for research and development in the flour factory

Control and monitor the whole stages of the production require special equipments and indicators which are placed in laboratories of the production company. These equipments include alveoconsistograph, consistograph, alveograph, sedimentation, and the cooking lab.

Responsibilities of quality control unit

Doing tests on the incoming wheat and categorizing them according to the type and power of the wheat
Storing different types of wheat separately
Doing a variety of tests on the final product and classifying flours
Flour production according to the customer’s taste

Alveoconsistograph

Alveoconsistograph

This device is used to check the dough characteristics such as water absorption, dough strength and stability of the dough. The device is consisted of three parts, consistograph, alveograph and computer recorder.

Consistograph

Consistograph

This device is composed of a thermostat to heat water to 30 ° C, which is necessary for the flow between two walls of the mixer and adding the flour for dough preparation, as well as a blender, in two types of 300-gram and 50-gram, for preparing the dough under certain conditions of temperature and power. It has a computer to display and record the characteristics of the dough. It works in such a way that the force of the pasty resistance, which has a certain consistency, comes to the blades of the mixer which spins at a constant speed and the curve will be recorded in the computer. This force varies depending on the type of the tested flour and therefore different consistographs are achieved from a variety of flours. Meanwhile the amount of the flour needed to prepare the dough is recorded with a certain consistency as a percentage. The following characteristics are determined according to the curve obtained:

Water absorption in percent
Time of dough expansion
Determine the dough resistance
Determine loosening of the dough

Alveograph

Alveograph

By using alveograph some rheological properties, such as the ability to stretch and the dough resistance can be measured. For this purpose, 4 pieces of dough are prepared separately in the form of sheets with a certain thickness by a rotating device. Then the sheets are placed on a special disk and the compressed air goes into them, so they get larger and larger in a spherical shape and then tear.

A curve is obtained from the device, in which the tensile strength is calculated by measuring the highest elevation (P), plasticity is calculated by measuring the length of the curve (L), and dough tolerance, since the air entering to it to the time when the air get out of it, is calculated by measuring the area under the curve. If in the typical test of the flour, the area under the curve is less than 0.8 and the ratio of (P) to (L) is less than 0.5, the flour is poor, and if the area under the curve is over 50 and the ratio of (P) to (L) is greater than 0.8, then the flour is strong.

Sedimentation

Sedimentation

Sedimentation test provides information about the quantity and quality of the grain types of the wheat and flour. The sedimentation rate of the flour, that has been suspended in lactic acid solution, is considered as a benchmark to measure the quality of cooking in a given time interval, which can be based on this method. The test is performed by keeping wheat grain or the flour in an acidic solution. During the experiment gluten proteins of the wheat grain or the flour swell and deposit. The more the gluten content, and the better its quality, the sedimentation number will increase. So there is a positive correlation between sediment content and the gluten strength or volumetric features of the bread.

Falling number

Falling number

The effect of enzymes on different combinations depends on the circumstances and the substrate. Because the grain, specially the endosperm, contains much carbohydrate, the enzymes that break down these materials are important. Most enzymes of the flour are not problematic in production process or the final product quality; but α-amylase is exceptional and the activity must be controlled.

The falling number is an index to measure the enzymatic activity of the flour produced from the wheat, which is based on the reduction in viscosity over time that is resulted by α-amylase activity on the starch paste. The falling number method provides an indicator of the amount of α-amylase in a kind of flour or grain. This method is based on the reduction in viscosity caused by α-amylase activity on the starch paste and the fact that α-amylase of the wheat would be activated above the gelatinization temperature of the wheat starch.

The smaller the falling number is, the larger the enzymatic activity of the wheat will be and the higher the falling number is, the lower the enzymatic activity of the wheat will be. The flour that is obtained from germinated and damaged wheat has the falling number of 100 seconds or less. However, the falling number below 300 indicates high enzymatic activity.

Zeleny test

Zeleny test

Zeleny test shows the quantity and quality of the wheat protein. This test, along with other tests, are used for the final judgment about the bakery value of the wheat or flour based on the results of some tests, and not a test alone. However, in this test the sedimentation rate of the flour that has been suspended in lactic acid solution, is considered as a benchmark in a given time interval to measure the quality of cooking.

During the experiment, gluten proteins of the wheat or flour swell and deposit. The higher the gluten content is, the higher the protein quality will be and it will increase Zeleny number. According to AACC standard, Zeleny number is below 20 ml for the poor wheat, 20-25 ml for intermediate wheat and higher than 25 ml for the strong wheat. Also, according to another category, the high quality of the wheat relates to the wheat with Zeleny number over 35 ml, medium to good quality relates to Zeleny numbers 25-35 ml, and relatively poor quality relates to Zeleny numbers 16-24 ml.

Cooking Lab

Cooking Lab

An equipped and efficient cooking laboratory creates a useful and desirable relationship between us and our clients. The cooking lab helps us become aware of the final quality of our products and provide products based on the customer needs. The tests and studies carried out in an equipped cooking laboratory helps us produce new flours with better technological and nutritional properties. By using the most common cooking techniques, we compare different varieties of the wheat and also prepare different mixtures of the flour and remove deficits if needed. We continue to produce new products to meet the diverse needs of our clients.

The cooking laboratory of the manufacturing company of Ard-daran is a school, with specialized learning for bakers, teachings and techniques for producers, and recommendations for all special consumers and customers, especially this manufacturing company.

The stages of preparing dough and baking bread and biochemical processes should be studied well. By having the knowledge of these interactions and changing the process, we can prepare high quality breads. There are advanced methods and equipments for measuring the quality of the wheat and flour. However, most experts believe that the most perfect way to ensure the quality of the final product is to study the baking of the final product and we can provide a comprehensive assessment of the quality of flours by using simple cooking techniques.