EVALUATION OF THE MOISTURE AND ASH CONTENTS IN WHEAT MILLS BY MULTISTEP PROGRAMMED THERMOGRAVIMETRY

The determination of the moisture and ash contents in wheat mills was developed using multistep programmed thermogravimetric analysis. Preliminary research to determine the most suitable analytical conditions (carrier gas and flow rate, furnace temperature, isothermal time, type and weight of sample and size of particles) was also carried out. Commerical flours milled from soft and hard wheats with a wide range of fibre content were analysed using both the proposed method and the Italian official methods. The same results were obtained from all these methods. Nevertheless, the thermogravimetric method has some advantages: the analysis takes place on the same sample; it requires very small samples; and it is easy and rapid