PROTEIN ENRICHMENT OF SUNFLOWER MEAL BY AIR CLASSIFICATION.

Sunflower meal is a by-product that remains after oil extraction from sunflower seeds. It is produced in large quantities and it is mostly used as protein source in animal feed production. Thus, protein content is an important quality parameter of sunflower meal. Removal of sunflower hull decreases the crude fiber content, increases the crude protein content and nutritional value of sunflower meal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the process of air classification for obtaining protein enriched fractions of sunflower meal. The conical mill was used to reduce the size of particles and agglomerates of sunflower meal. Air flow and feeding rate were varied during air classification process. At each air flow setting protein enriched fractions that had significantly higher (p<0.05) crude protein content than the unclassified sunflower meal were obtained. Increase of air flow resulted in coarse fractions with higher protein content and lower yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]