Abstract

PRADA FORERO, Luz Esperanza; GARCIA BERNAL, Hugo Reinel  and  CHAVES GUERRERO, Arlex. Effects of evaporation pressure and antifoam concentration and the use of a flocculant and adjuvant on the quality of sugar honey and panela. Corpoica cienc. tecnol. agropecu. [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.2, pp.153-172. ISSN 0122-8706.

The implementation of multi-effect evaporators on panela (unrefined whole cane sugar) production process requires, besides the technological adjustment, to maintain product characteristics; this condition revealed the lack of knowledge of the effect of evaporation pressure on the quality of panela. In order to fill part of this gap, this study sought to determine the effect of both the concentration of antifoam and the use of a flocculant (Heliocarpus popayanensis Kunth) and an adjuvant (lime) on the quality of sugar honey and panela, when evaporation is performed at different atmospheric pressures. In order to achieve this, the present study worked on two completely randomized experimental designs with four replications, a density of evaporation heat flow of 27.78 kW/m² and juice from the CC85-46 variety. In the first design, two variables were studied: evaporation pressure and use of flocculant and adjuvant with a 4x2x2 factorial arrangement without antifoam. In the second design, variables evaporation pressure and quantity of antifoam with a 4x3 factorial arrangement without flocculant nor adjuvant were studied. The results show that the quality of the product deteriorates in pressurized systems (glucoside coefficient increases up to 200%), is not affected by the use of 50 μL of antifoam per liter of clarified juice and improved by the use of flocculant (turbidity is reduced by 55%). Solidification and hardness improve with the addition of the adjuvant, but this increased 48% color and 24% turbidity.

Keywords : multiple-effect evaporator; Heliocarpus popayanensis; lime; foam.

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