Nutech Analytical, Inc.

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SPX Speck Expert
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SPX Speck Expert - Corn Starch Application Note

Corn Starch Speck Analysis

Overview
Commercial starch produced by the corn wet-milling industry is removed from other parts of the kernel by chemical treatment, grinding, sieving, and counter current hydrocyclone washing. Commercial starch is also produced in the wheat gluten industry by sieving after vigorously mixing the dough to release the starch fraction from the gluten. Dark specks from the flash, oven, or spray-drying processes are objectionable contaminants. Speck counting has been conducted using various subjective manual counting methods and is intended to ensure customer specifications.

Measurement Results
Results of testing 5 commercial grades of corn starch are shown in the graph at right, with an SPX image of specks in corn starch at left. The graph illustrates the ability of the SPX to quantify specks in corn starch down to 45 microns. The SPX is a rapid objective speck counting method easily calibrated to other visual counting methods (comparison to photos) or to wet chemistry methods (vacuum filtration).

corn starch speck image corn starch data image