Direct drying of non-shear crystal sugar with the aid of infrared medium-wave irradiation (miR)

• Grant number: 19/08647-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: February 01, 2020
• End date: October 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal Investigator: José Álvaro Ogando
• Grantee: José Álvaro Ogando
• Company: Progt Industrial Ltda
• CNAE: Fabricação de máquinas e equipamentos para uso industrial específico não especificados anteriormente ; Serviços de engenharia ; Pesquisa e desenvolvimento experimental em ciências físicas e naturais
• City: Paulínia
• Pesquisadores principais: Felipe Iwagaki Braga Ogando
• Associated scholarship(s): 20/09006-5 - Dry efficiency validation of crystal sugar by infrared dryer, BP.TT

Abstract

Brazilian sugarcane agroindustry exerts a great influence on the market especially for products such as crystal sugar that is consumed daily by the entire world population. Due to the increasing demand for products that combine good quality and durability in storage before to consumer residence, an increase in accident frequency involves crystal sugar storage, as well as, the higher demand has generated a situation of greater difficulty in maintenance of quality parameters of this product. Therefore is necessary to study in order to establish variables that may inhibit quality reduction processes as a function of time and environmental and/or process variations. Thus, this innovative research project aims to evaluate changes in crystal sugar quality parameters during the drying process, bringing to the productive market a new concept of mid-infrared (MIR) dryer in order to present an alternative to conventional drying process which is outdated and generates risks to the worker, the population and the quality of the product itself. Pilot-scale experiments will be conducted in a medium-wave infrared irradiator with ProGT technology in order to prove the efficiency of the drying system with a gain of VHP and V-VHP crystal sugar qualities (two of the most produced types in Brazil and in the world), regarding Icumsa color, moisture, reducing sugars, sucrose and counting of mesophilic bacteria and mold and yeast, in order to evaluate the alteration of these factors during the drying process under several conditions of temperature, stack height of sugar in the mat according to official International Comission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis methods. (AU)