The world's first fully automatic solvent retention tester

Recently, Chopin Technologies of France announced the launch of SRC-Chopin, the world's first fully automatic solvent retention tester, and will be held in Rhode Island, USA on October 5-8, 2014 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) 2014 A new product briefing will be held at the conference.

Solvent Retention Capacity (SRC) method was proposed by Nabisco Cookie's wheat flour and roasting experts Slade and Levine in 1994. Manual detection was based on a flour with a moisture content of 14%. After centrifugation, the weight of solvent remained in the flour. The percentage of flour dry weight is used to measure flour quality. The main solvents are distilled water, 5% sodium carbonate, 5% lactic acid and 50% sucrose. The sodium carbonate SRC is related to the amount of broken starch in the flour. The lactic acid SRC is related to the glutenin properties, the sucrose SRC is related to the pentosan properties, and the water SRC reflects the comprehensive properties of the flour. Wheat gluten, broken starch and pentosan are the three main functional components in wheat flour that influence the formation of gluten network, affecting the quality characteristics of the dough in the process of preparation, baking and cooking and determining the quality of the final product. Therefore, the SRC method is widely used. In 1999, it became the AACC standard method, numbered AACC56-11. However, due to the complex process of manual SRC method and many human influence factors, manual SRC is still subject to poor reproducibility of detection results.

SRC-Chopin automatic solvent retention tester realizes the automation of the entire detection process. The operation is simple and the result is accurate. The Chopin SRC instrument is a complete integrated system that includes a tube vibration device, a centrifuge and a test tube drain device. The tube is weighed in the balance and the balance's built-in scanner automatically identifies the tube number. The instrument display will automatically display the preset test flow. Test tubes and solvent injectors will be placed in the instrument according to the test procedure. Then, what the operator has to do is press the test start button, the next step (solvent injection, shaking, centrifugation, draining), all automatically. The test is completed and automatically weighed. All results are automatically calculated and displayed.

Compared with the traditional manual SRC detection, the fully automatic solvent retention force instrument invented by Chopin has three outstanding advantages: 1. The detection efficiency is greatly improved, and the time-consuming of the experiment is greatly shortened (Automatic detection of 8 samples takes 15 minutes, manual detection approximately 45 (Minutes); 2, detection accuracy increased 1-3 times, the results of different laboratories are comparable, no one for the operation of the error; 3, the detection process is greatly simplified, manual SRC is completed automatically in different stages, calculations and results are displayed automatically.

Arnaud Dubat, Director of Application and Marketing of the International Grains Council ICC Executive Committee and France Chopin Technologies, commented, “We partnered with many customers such as Kraft Foods to achieve the full automation of the manual SRC method. This innovative result is for flour. Advances in quality inspection technology have far-reaching implications."

It is understood that Chopin Technologies, a French company Chopin, is a world leader in the development and production of quality testing equipment for cereals, flours and processed products. It is part of the Trebett-Renault Group Tripette & Renaud.

All Chopin Technologies' instruments and equipment are developed and manufactured in France. There are more than 60 distributors at the global level and cover all cereal fields. Chopin Technologies focuses on technological innovation and invests more than 10% of its annual turnover in research and development. Since Chopin invented the world's first instrument for measuring wheat quality, the bubbler, in 1920, Chopin Technology's many proprietary technologies have been recognized by all first-rate international organizations.