THERMAL PROCESSING OF CLARIFIED APPLE JUICE WITH CAPILLARY MICROREACTORS

• Grant number: 22/13250-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: February 04, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Technology
• Principal Investigator: Mauri Sergio Alves Palma
• Grantee: Tamiris Garcia
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

One of the main challenges in the use of microreactor technology for the heat treatment of food is the adequacy of the fluid to avoid fouling and clogging conditions in the microchannels, in addition to temperature gradients. In this sense, the processes of depectinization and clarification of apple juice make it possible to transfer it to continuous flow in a capillary microreactor. Enzyme technology can be used for depectinization and clarification processes. In the depectinization process, from the effect of enzymes on the cell wall, neutral sugars that are bound to pectic substances are released and become soluble. This allows agglomeration of the particulate material and the formation of flakes which can be separated by filtration or centrifugation. Depectinization results in a decrease in fluid viscosity and is a process prior to clarification, through which the turbidity of freshly processed juices, resulting from suspended particles of pectin, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, starch, among other materials, is alleviated. Thus, the objective of this work is to carry out the thermal processing of clarified apple juice using microreactors. The pH, total acidity, solids content and transmittance will be determined after apple juice extraction (initial condition), and the same variables will be compared to the values obtained after the juice is submitted to enzymatic treatment (final condition). The depectinization process will be evaluated for its efficiency using an alcohol test. The heat treatment will be evaluated by inactivation of the enzymes polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase. This project will be developed within the scope of the doctoral project of the co-supervisor of this Scientific Initiation project, PhD student Paula Almeida Meira, funded by CAPES entitled "Study and modeling of enzymatic inactivation in the processing of green coconut water and apple juice clarified by through capillary microreactors" from August/2021 to July/2025. This work will be developed by a student in a period of 12 months with a workload of 80 hours per month.