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Title: FINE GRINDING AND AIR CLASSIFICATION OF FIELD PEA

Author
item Wu, Ying Victor
item Nichols, Nancy

Submitted to: Cereal Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2005
Publication Date: 6/6/2005
Citation: Wu, Y.V., Nichols, N.N. 2005. Fine grinding and air classification of field pea. Cereal Chemistry. 82(3):341-344.

Interpretive Summary: Field pea has about 23% protein and 48% starch. There is good potential to increase field pea production in U.S., especially by planting field pea before soybean, wheat, or grain sorghum, so that two crops can be harvested in one year. The starch in field pea can be fermented to alcohol, and the protein can be used in food. An inexpensive way to enrich a protein fraction and a starch fraction is desirable to lower the processing cost. The field pea, whole or dehulled, was finely ground and separated in a stream of air according to particle size into a protein-rich and a starch-rich fractions. Alcohol from field pea can be used in motor fuel and reduce petroleum import. High-protein pea fraction can supplement cereal grains to make the resulting food more nutritious. This research will benefit farmers by increasing farm income and will benefit consumers by reducing petroleum import and by making more nutritious food available.

Technical Abstract: Field pea has about 23% protein and 48% starch. Pin milling at 1 x 14,000, 3 x 14,000, 9 x 14,000 and 12 x 14,000 rpm followed by air classification according to particle size resulted in fine fractions (<18 µm) with high protein content and in coarser fractions (>18 µm) with high starch content. The yield of high-protein fraction increased with the intensity of grinding prior to air classification. The starch content of the high-starch fraction increased with the intensity of grinding and subsequent air classification. Both whole pea and dehulled pea responded well to fine grinding and air classification, and the dehulled pea gave higher protein content and higher starch content than the corresponding fraction from whole pea. Amino acid composition of pea had high lysine content and met all the World Health Organization amino acid requirements for children older than 2 years and adults.