Physical and chemical evaluation of acid beverage floc formation and implications in parameters of white sugar quality

• Grant number: 14/09534-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2014
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Technology
• Principal Investigator: Claudio Lima
• Grantee: Natasha Linhares de Lima Braga
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Brazil exports large quantity of its production of sugar. Since the soft drink industry is the largest consumer of sugar. Brazil is the third largest exporter of soft drinks, behind only the United States and Mexico. Per capita consumption in these countries is high in Brazil is around 86 L and the United States about 184 L, these data indicate about the need for large amount of raw material, sugar, whether from the cane or sugar beet. However, there are problems hindering the production and the formation of precipitates in drink known as acid floc, which has been associated with the presence of polysaccharides in sugar, but the mechanism of formation is not right known. This can be directly related to the quality of the raw material and consequently with the efficiency of the juice clarification process, since if there is no proper treatment of the juice, sugar will lower quality and higher intensity of impurities and black spot. However, this study aims to assess physical and chemical parameters that influence the quality of white crystal sugar, marketed for industrial use, in the formation of acid floc.