TREATMENT OF POLLEN BY FLUIDIZATION

ABSTRACT This work is divided into two distinct parts: i) a study of the cleaning of pollen by encrainment with air and determination of the parameters that permit efficient levels of separation; and ii) a consideration of the drying of pollen by fluidization and an assessment of its effect on product quality. The pollen utilized consisted of fresh material, collected from traps in beehives, and characterized in terms of organic and inorganic materials. The physical properties of each of these materials, as well as their respective hydrodynamic behaviour when fuidized, were determined. Based on a statistical experiment design, it was found that superficial air velocity and pollen inventory in the dryer are major factors that affect cleaning. Results also show that the drying of pollen by fluidization is controlled by transport within the particles and, therefore, temperature was the major factor affecting drying rate and the one which determined product quality.