Ultra-micro pulverization technology is in recent years with the modern chemical industry, electronics, biology, materials and mineral development and other high-tech development and the rise of high-tech cutting-edge technology for food processing at home and abroad.

The United States, Japan, marketed fruit-flavored herbal tea, freeze-dried fruit powder, ultra-low-temperature frozen turtle powder, kelp powder, pollen and placenta powder, etc., are processed using ultra-micro pulverization technology, our country is also in the 1990s the application of this technology in pollen products, some taste good, nutritional ratio is reasonable, easy to digest and absorb functional foods (such as hawthorn powder, konjac powder, mushroom powder, etc.) came into being.

Ultra-micro pulverization technology principle

Ultra-fine crushing technology is the use of special crushing equipment, through a certain processing technology, the material grinding, impact, shear, etc., will be more than 3mm particle size of the material crushed to the particle size of 10 ~ 25μm below the micro-fine particles, so that the product has interface activity, presenting a special function.

Compared with the traditional crushing, crushing, grinding and other processing technologies, the particle size of the ultra-fine pulverized products is even smaller.

Ultra-micro pulverization technology is based on the principle of micron technology. With the ultramicronization of the material, its surface molecular arrangement, electron distribution structure and crystal structure are changed, resulting in a block (particle) material does not have the surface size effect, quantum effect and macro quantum tunneling effect, which makes the ultramicron pulverized products compared with the macro-particles have excellent physical, chemical and surface interface properties.

Advantages of ultra-fine pulverization technology

2.1 Fast speed, low temperature pulverization
Ultramicro pulverization technology using supersonic airflow pulverization, cold slurry pulverization and other methods, in the pulverization process does not produce local overheating phenomenon, and even at low temperatures, pulverization can be completed in an instant, thus maximizing the retention of biologically active components of the powder, and is conducive to the production of high-quality products as required.

2.2 Fine particle size, uniform distribution
Due to the use of airflow supersonic pulverization, so that the distribution of raw material external force is very uniform. The setting of the grading system not only strictly limits the large particles, but also avoids over-crushing, and can get the ultra-fine powder with uniform particle size distribution, which largely increases the specific surface area of the micro-powder, and makes the adsorption, dissolution, etc. also increase accordingly.

2.3 Save raw materials, improve utilization rate
Objects after ultra-fine pulverization of ultra-fine powder can generally be used directly in the production of preparations, while the conventional crushing method of crushed products, still need some intermediate steps to achieve the direct use of the production requirements, which is likely to cause a waste of raw materials. Therefore, the ultra-micro pulverization technology is very suitable for the crushing of rare materials.

2.4 Reduce pollution
Ultra-micro-grinding is carried out in a closed system, not only to avoid the micro-powder contamination of the surrounding environment, but also to prevent airborne dust contamination of the product, the use of this technology in food and health care products, can control microorganisms and dust contamination of the product.

2.5 Improve the chemical reaction speed of fermentation and enzymatic process
Because the raw materials after ultra-micro-grinding, has a great specific surface, in the biological, chemical reaction process, the reaction contact area greatly increased, thus can improve the fermentation, enzymatic process reaction speed, in the production of time to save, improve efficiency.

2.6 Favor the absorption of food nutrients
Studies have shown that after the ultra-micro-grinding of food, because of its particle size is very small, nutrients do not have to go through a long distance can be released, and micro-powder due to the small particle size and easier adsorption in the small intestinal lining, accelerating the rate of nutrient release, so that the food in the small intestine has enough time to be absorbed.

Application in food industry

In the field of food processing, the particle size of less than 25μm is usually called ultra-fine powder, and the method of preparing ultra-fine powder is called ultra-fine pulverization technology.

Food in the commonly used ultra-fine pulverization technology is mainly airflow, high-frequency vibration, rotary ball (rod) mill, rotary roller and so on. Among them, the gas flow type ultramicrocrushing technology is more advanced, the use of gas through the pressure nozzle jet to produce intense impact, collision and friction and other forces to achieve the crushing of materials.

3.1 Classification of ultra-micro pulverization technology applied in the food industry
Although the introduction of food superfine powder soon, but has been in the spices, beverages, canned food, frozen food, baked goods, health food and other aspects of the show their hands, and the effect is better.

3.2 Application of ultra-micro pulverization technology in food processing
3.2.1 Soft drinks processing
At present, the use of air micro-milling technology has been developed soft drinks powder tea, bean solid drinks and ultra-micro bone meal formulated calcium-rich drinks and so on.

Tea culture in China has a long history, the traditional tea is brewed with boiling water tea, the human body does not absorb a large number of tea nutrients, most of the proteins, carbohydrates and some minerals, vitamins, etc. are stored in the tea residue. If the tea at room temperature, dry state made of tea powder (particle size <5μm), can improve the body’s absorption rate of its nutrients.

Tea powder added to other foods, but also the development of new tea products. Vegetable protein drinks are protein-rich plant seeds and kernels as raw materials, by soaking, grinding, homogenization and other operations made of milky products.

Grinding, can be used to grind rubber mill particle size 5 ~ 8μm, and then homogenized to 1 ~ 2μm. In this particle size, the solid particles of protein and fat particles become smaller, thus preventing the protein sinking and fat floating.

3.2.2 Fruit and vegetable processing
Vegetables in the low-temperature grinding into micropaste powder, not only to preserve the nutrients, its fiber also due to microfine and make the taste better. Such as people generally regarded as waste of persimmon leaves rich in rutin, choline, flavonoid glycosides, carotene, polysaccharides, amino acids, vitamin C and a variety of trace elements, if processed by the ultra-micro-grinding made of persimmon leaf powder, can be used as a food additive made of noodles, bread and other types of persimmon leaf health food, but also made of persimmon leaf health tea.

3.2.3 Grocery processing
The ultra-micro-grinding of wheat bran powder, soybean micronutrient powder and so on added to the flour, can be made into high-fiber or high-protein flour. Rice, wheat and other grains processed into ultra-micro rice flour, due to the fine particle size, the surface state of the starch is activated, it will be filled or mixed into the food with easy to cook, flavor and texture of good performance.

Soybeans are processed into soy milk powder after ultra-micro-milling, which can remove the fishy flavor. Mung beans, red beans and other beans can also be made after ultra-micro-grinding of high-quality bean paste, soy milk and other products.

3.2.4 Aquatic products processing
Spirulina, pearls, turtles, sharks and other cartilage ultramicro powder has unique advantages. Such as pearl powder is traditionally processed after more than ten hours of ball milling so that the granularity of hundreds of mesh, but if the -67 ℃ low temperature and strict purification of airflow conditions in the instantaneous crushing of pearls, you can get the average particle size of 10μm below the ultra-micro pearl powder.

Compared with traditional processing, this method fully retains the effective components of pearls, calcium content of up to 42%, can be used as a dietary supplement or food additives made of calcium supplements and nutritious products.

3.2.5 Functional food processing
Nowadays, the idea of “medicine and food come from the same source” and “food therapy is more important than medicine therapy” has been generally accepted by people. For the production of functional foods, ultra-micro pulverization technology mainly plays a role in the preparation of base materials (such as dietary fiber, fat substitutes, etc.).

Ultrafine powder can improve the bioavailability of functional substances, reduce the amount of base material in the food, and the slow-release effect of microparticles in the body can make the efficacy prolonged. In the process of developing solid honey, the use of colloid mills for ultra-fine pulverization of ingredients can increase the fineness of the product. In addition, the use of ultra-fine bone powder, shrimp powder calcium supplement, ultra-fine kelp powder iodine supplement, the human body is easy to absorb and simple to implement.
3.2.6 Spices, seasonings processing
Ultrafine grinding technology as a new food processing methods, can make the traditional processing of spices, flavoring products (mainly refers to soybean fermentation solid products) of higher quality.

Spices, seasonings in the huge porosity generated by the granulation of the collection of holes caused by the cavity can be absorbed and contain the aroma, the taste of the long-lasting, more intense aroma and taste.

At the same time, the ultra-micro-grinding technology can make the traditional seasonings finely crushed into uniform particle size, good dispersion performance of the excellent ultra-micro-particles, mobility, dissolution speed and absorption rate have increased greatly, the taste effect has been very obvious improvement, the ultra-micro-grinding method of processing spices, seasonings, flavor intensity is several times or even more than ten times the traditional processing methods.

For the higher sensory requirements of the product, after the ultra-fine grinding of spices particle size is very fine, up to 300 ~ 500 mesh, the naked eye can not be observed particles exist, eliminating the production of black spots in the product, improve the appearance of the product quality. At the same time, the corresponding equipment of the ultra-fine grinding technology is equipped with coating, emulsification, solid emulsification, modification and other physical and chemical functions, for the development of flavored products to create a realistic prospect. It can be said that the ultra-fine pulverization technology will bring revolutionary changes to the traditional Chinese flavored products.