Department: 
Catalysis & Inorganic Chemical Technology
Project manager(s): 
Year: 
2020
Pomegranate with the scientific name (punica granatum) is one of the nutritionally valuable fruits and is rich in vitamins, carbohydrates, organic acids, minerals and antioxidant compounds. Iran is the largest producer of pomegranates in the world and pomegranates are produced in most of its provinces. Pomegranates produced in the form of fresh fruit, pomegranate juice, pomegranate concentrate and pomegranate paste are offered to the domestic market and some fruits are also exported. Since a large part of the pomegranate produced in the country is low quality pomegranate, it cannot be marketed and will not become a commercial product. One way to use these pomegranates is converting the pomegranate juice into pomegranate powder. Drying fruit juices and turning them into powder makes them in a stable form with high durability. There are several methods for drying of fruit juices, but the spray drying process is an efficient and industrial method for converting fruit juices into powdered products. In this research project, a method for converting pomegranate juice to pomegranate powder using spray drying process, after juice extraction and concentration presented. For this reason, the parameters affecting drying at the bench scale have been optimized. These parameters included the type of carrier, inlet air temperature, outlet air temperature, feed flow rate, carrier percentage and percentage of solids in feed pomegranate juice. The results showed that among maltodextrin, lactose and gelatin, maltodextrin with DE = 17 is the most suitable carrier compound and produces a powder composition with desirable properties. Also, the resulting powder had the highest quality at inlet air temperature of 130 C, outlet air temperature of 80 C, feed flow rate of 2.5 ml / min, carrier content of 25% and solids content in 25% pomegranate juice. The quality of the resulting powder was determined by measuring and comparing the amount of total phenolic compounds (in terms of gallic acid) and measuring the adsorption at the maximum visible wavelength of anthocyanin compounds (526 nm). For drying pomegranate juice on a semi-industrial scale (pilot plant), the optimal conditions of the bench stage were used and pomegranate juice concentrate was prepared from atmospheric conditions and industrial concentrate of Mazrae Sabz Neyriz Company (Narni). The results showed that spray drying proces is a suitable method for industrial production of pomegranate juice to pomegranate powder.‎
 
Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology
Department of Chemical Technologies
Last updated on Sep - 16 2024
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