EFFECT OF BLADE TYPES ON THE BLENDING EFFICIENCY AND MILK CONSISTENCY OF A GRAINS DRINK PROCESSING MACHINE

The effect of blades type on blending efficiency and consistency of drinks produced from a grains drink processing machine developed at the Agricultural and Bio resources Engineering Department of the Federal University of Technology, Minna was assessed. Three grain types of two varieties each for maize, soybean and guinea corn where processed using four types of blending blades: horizontal-vertical blade, 4-blade, 2-blade and wheel blade assemblies. The result obtained showed that horizontal-vertical blade assembly had the highest blending efficiency of 78.23% on dehulled white maize while the wheel blade assembly had the least blending efficiency of 09.32% on dehulled yellow maize (pop corn).