SRC-CHOPIN

Automated measurement of the solvent retention capacity (SRC) profile

Understand flour functionality

• By simultaneously and individually analyzing the main functional flour components (damaged starch, glutenins, pentosans) that directly influence final product quality

Universal test

• From breeding to baking, the entire wheat and flour industry and its supply chain benefit from SRC analysis, using a common language

Improved precision and reproducibility

• The SRC test method is recognized worldwide.* The SRC-CHOPIN machine identifies the solvent tubes, stores the flour weighing data, injects the solvents, shakes, centrifuges and drains the tubes, and then calculates all the results

Advantages

Accuracy

One drawback of the manual SRC method is that different laboratories can use different equipment (shaking, centrifuge), thus potentially leading to significant variations in test results. Because of its fully automated process, the SRC-CHOPIN offers practitioners a precision generally unachievable using the manual SRC method. Internal repeatability is greatly enhanced, but the biggest benefit is realized when comparing results from one laboratory to another. Thanks to this new opportunity for increased accuracy, SRC-CHOPIN results can be used to improve flour quality, and as quality targets for development of functional, end-use application-specific flour specifications.

Simplicity

The manual SRC method calls for a series of operations, some of which are extremely operatordependent and -variable (e.g. shaking). The SRC-CHOPIN greatly simplifies all these operations by automating each and every step of the method, from flour weighing to calculation of results.

Time Saving

The manual SRC method includes many manual operations, some of which (e.g. shaking) have a very large influence on the results. But thanks to its fully automated procedure, the SRC CHOPIN not only provides more accurate data, it also saves time, thus enabling users to test more flour samples per day.

Adaptability

The SRC-CHOPIN is primarily designed to test simultaneously two flours, each with all four SRC solvents (water, sucrose, sodium carbonate, and lactic acid). But the system is also perfectly suited to analyze just a single flour, or eight different flour samples with the same single solvent. The built-in software enables flexible testing of any possible combination of flour and solvent of interest to the user

All-Inclusive

The SRC-CHOPIN is a complete system; it includes a tube shaking system, a centrifuge, and a tubedraining system. It is equipped with an external balance for weighing both the initial flour sample and the final wet pellet, in order to calculate the four SRC values and display them as an ordered profile on the integrated screen. All SRC data can also be transferred to a PC for further manipulations, such as calculation of a flour’s Gluten Performance Index.