Industrial scale preparation of pea flour fractions with enhanced nutritive composition by dry fractionation

This study determined influence of industrial scale milling and air classification on separation of pea flours into fine and coarse fractions. Three commercial field pea flours were chosen from field peas grown in Manitoba, Canada, - whole green pea flour (WGPF), split green pea flour (SGPF), and organic split yellow pea flour (OSYPF). The ranges of 85-87% protein, 74-95% fat, and 66-76% minerals were enriched in the pea fine fractions. A range of 78-91% starch was enriched in the coarse fractions. Scanning electron microscopy and proximate analysis confirmed compositional shift between the fine and coarse fractions. The particle size analysis demonstrated that the milling in this study was sufficient and effective in reducing the flour particle size to smaller than 22 µm, which was considered to be the cut-point. The yield of the fine fraction was as high as 44% and acceptable for an industrial manufacture.