Effect of ageing and composition on the ignition tendency of dairy powders

Milk powder deposits in drying devices can be a problem because of their te ndency to self-heat. Smouldering milk powder becomes a source for ignition or even dust explosion. To this end, the exothermic reactivities of fresh w hole and skim milk powders have been studied. This investigation examined t he effect of thermal ageing and composition on the reactivities of milk pow ders. The kinetic parameters were found to change with ageing temperature f or both whole and skim milk powders. The tendency of milk powder to ignite was found to increase with increasing fat content. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd. All rights reserved.