Powder Technology, Vol.344, 307-313, 2019
Segregation of canola, kidney bean, and soybean in wheat bulks during bin loading
Segregation is an important phenomenon in bulk grain handling and has potential to cause many grain storage problems. Distribution and segregation of kidney bean, soybean, and canola in a wheat mixture were studied by dropping the wheat mixture having 0, 3, and 6% in total of kidney bean, soybean, and canola from 80, 160, or 240 cm heights to a test bin of 2 m diameter. During loading, three cameras were used to record the trajectories of the grain kernels. After the bin was loaded, samples were collected at the following six locations along a radius: 0.0, 18.8, 37.6, 56.4, 75.2 and 94.0 cm from the center. The bulk density was measured for each sample and the samples were then sieved to determine the amount of each grain type at each location. The canola kernels were found more at the periphery of the bin and this was caused by impact segregation. The kidney beans, and soybeans were found more near the mid locations and center of the bin. The segregation effects of avalanches, rolling, sliding and embedding were observed. The percentage of other grains (kidney bean, soybean, and canola) inside the wheat mixture did not have a significant effect on the distribution and segregation of other grains. The drop height significantly affected the segregation of the grain mixture. Crown Copyright (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.