Drying kinetics and quality of okara dried in a jet spouted bed of sorbent particles

Okara or soy residue is a byproduct of soymilk and tofu production process. Okara has high protein content and can be used as an ingredient in many food products or can be used as animal feed. However, okara deteriorates rapidly; hence raw okara must be dried as early as possible under appropriate conditions. Drying could also help eliminating undesirable antinutritional factors in okara. The present study investigated the feasibility of drying okara using a combined convection-sorption drying, i.e., the use of a jet spouted bed of sorbent particles. The effects of various parameters such as drying air temperature and velocity, mass ratio of sorbent particles to okara, and initial bed height of okara on the drying kinetics were investigated. Also, various quality attributes of okara viz. color, oxidation level, rehydration ability, urease activity and protein solubility as well as the specific energy consumption during drying were investigated in both low- and high-temperature ranges.     

Determination of limiting factors in a novel superconcentration-granulation based dairy powder manufacturing process

An innovative approach based on superconcentration and granulation was investigated to manufacture dairy ingredients at lab-scale. A wet mass characterization technique, which measured agitator current consumption, was developed to study cohesiveness of super-concentrated products at various dry matter (DM) contents. For all ingredients, a composition-dependent cohesive phase was observed as DM increased, which was typified by a sharp rise and subsequent fall in power consumption. The effect of powder back-mixing on granulation was studied using three superconcentrate:powder (w/w) ratios (1:0.8, 1:1 and 1:1.2, respectively). Minimum powder addition rate for successful granulation was related to DM content at the end of the cohesive phase. Granulated powders had larger particle size, higher densities, lower porosities and enhanced flow properties compared to commercial spray-dried powders. The lab-scale model provided useful information on physical properties and limits during superconcentration and granulation, which increases the scientific knowledge relating to this novel powder production approach.Industrial relevanceSpray drying is the most widely utilized powder manufacturing technology in the dairy industry, especially for producing ingredients and nutritional products. It is, however, extremely energy intense and therefore spray drying of high-volume, low-value dairy streams such as permeate represents a poor use of resources for industry. An alternative spray dryer-free process has been developed for such streams, with significant savings. This process is based on superconcentration of streams to DM content in excess of what is typically seen in a spray-drying process (up to 80% w/w DM) followed by granulation achieved by back-mixing of finished product and, finally, drying of granules. However, little information is available on how various dairy ingredients behave in this system. Therefore, a novel lab-scale production model was produced to determine limits of superconcentration and granulation behavior of various ingredients. This work provides vital information and represents the first step in a larger program which will culminate in demonstration of the industrial applicability of the new approach for drying of various dairy streams.     

Fitting semi‐empirical drying models using a tool based on wavelet neural networks: Modeling a maize drying process

Maize drying is an important process, especially for storage and conservation. For this study, the experimental stage was carried out using a forced convection dryer with air heated at different temperature conditions (306.05–441.85 K) and flow (0.13–0.256 m³/hr), totalizing 15 drying curves. Then the performances of the classic drying kinetics methodology and the approach proposed in this paper, in which the increase in moisture content of the product with time was represented combining exponential models and neural networks based on wavelets, were compared. Good performance was obtained in predictions using the proposed approach. One of the main differentials of the methodology adopted was the obtainment of a model that has a global predictive capacity, within the range of tested operating conditions, which can be used in predicting drying curves for different operating conditions.

Practical applications

The drying process is also one of the most widely used methods for preserving food, and has the advantage of reducing the costs of storage and transport because of the low volume and weight of the end product. During the last years, this topic has attracted a broad industrial interest, resulting in many research studies investigating the drying process. Usually, with regard to the classic approach for modeling of the drying process, the kinetics of drying curves obtained in different operating conditions is affected separately, that is, the parameters are estimated independently, resulting in different regression problems. With the classical approach, in general, it is not possible to obtain a comprehensive prediction model with regards to operating conditions. We have proposed an alternative modeling method. Aiming to obtain a modeling tool with an overall predictive ability, an approach for drying kinetics prediction that combines exponential models and neural networks was proposed. The proposed modeling method was able to predict drying curves for different operating conditions.     

挂面干燥工艺能耗分析

干燥是挂面生产的重要工艺环节,干燥能力和能耗是产品成本的重要组成部分。本文对3种主要挂面干燥设备(隧道式、索道式、改良索道式),以及工艺的干燥能力、能耗、稳定性开展在线测试,分析了测试结果。初步结果认为,挂面干燥过程的"三阶段"划分和设计不同的干燥过程控制参数,符合节能、高效、高质量的生产目标。合理的干燥工艺和烘房结构,以及优化的干燥过程控制参数,可显著提高产量(42.91%),降低能耗(-24.56%),缩短干燥时间(-12.50%)。拟实现干燥工艺控制过程的智能化,首先应是设计合理的干燥烘房结构,确定干燥工艺的关键控制要素和关键控制点;其次是实现干燥过程温度湿度控制与挂面在线含水率测定结果的联动,以及提升挂面在线含水率监测设备的稳定性和环境耐受性。而对挂面干燥动力学、热力学的系统研究,是干燥工艺智能化的基础和前提。     

马铃薯小麦复合面条热泵干燥特性及数学模型的研究

以马铃薯粉及小麦粉为原料,制作复合面条,研究不同温度和风速作用下复合面条的热泵干燥特性,并建立热泵干燥数学模型。实验结果表明:干燥温度越高,风速越大,热泵干燥处理时间则越短;温度对复合面条的干燥速率影响较大,而风速影响较小,降速干燥阶段为热泵干燥过程的主要阶段;Midilli模型能很好地反映复合面条的干燥过程,拟合效果较好,实验值和预测值吻合度高;有效水分扩散系数与温度风速均呈正相关,热泵干燥能耗较低,活化能为21.16 kJ/mol。研究结果可为复合面条的热泵干燥提供参考。     

红薯叶复合面条热泵-热风联合干燥特性及干燥模型建立

将红薯叶粉添加到复合面条中,基于响应面法对红薯叶复合面条的热泵-热风联合干燥特性进行探究,运用低场核磁技术分析干燥过程复合面条内部水分迁移的质热传递规律,建立红薯叶复合面条联合干燥过程的数学模型.结果表明:随着热泵干燥温度的升高、转换点含水量的增大、热风干燥温度的升高,干燥所需能耗降低,有效水分扩散系数增大,煮制吸水率...     

Monte Carlo simulation of the collective behavior of food particles in pneumatic drying operation

Although most of the time drying operation aims at controlling the mean batch behavior, the quality of the final product is often related to the individual behavior of the supplied materials in a batch. The mean batch models provide limited information for quality evaluation studies. Since the initial physical and thermal properties of rice powder in a batch influence the final condition of product dried with a pneumatic dryer, a Monte Carlo simulation with initial random parameters is useful to investigate the individual behavior of rice particle during pneumatic drying. In this study, we analyzed the influence of initial moisture content and particle diameter of rice powder on the conditions of the final product in pneumatic drying process. Samples of initial moisture content and particle diameter distributions were generated by means of the covariance decomposition algorithm and Monte Carlo simulations with 5000 runs based on momentum, energy and mass balances between drying air and rice particles were performed to obtain the profiles of the response variables, rice powder temperature, moisture content and particle diameter, in a pneumatic dryer. The developed pneumatic conveying drying (PCD) model could describe the complex behavior of rice particles in a batch.     

红薯叶粉热泵-热风联合干燥工艺优化

为保证红薯叶粉品质,降低加工能耗,采用热泵-热风联合干燥技术对红薯叶进行处理,在单因素试验基础上运用Box-Behnken Design优化试验,研究热泵干燥温度、热风干燥温度和转换点含水率对单位能耗、叶绿素含量、色泽L*值和吸湿性的影响,通过加权综合评分法推导多项式回归模型,进而优化联合干燥工艺参数。经响应面优化的干燥参数为:热泵干燥温度52℃、热风干燥温度73℃、转换点含水率58%,该工艺下单位能耗3 621. 36 k J/g、叶绿素含量6. 42 mg/g、色泽L*值46. 21、吸湿性7. 19%,综合评分值与预测值拟合度高达99. 632 5%,为红薯叶综合利用奠定了理论基础。     

Extraction with Ethanol as an Energy-Saving Alternative to Conventional Drying of Corn Starch

Drying of starch derived from corn wet-milling is an energy intensive operation in an energy intensive industry. An alternative to conventional drying involves extraction of water from the starch with an ethanol solution and reconcentration of the ethanol by distillation. Equilibrium data for starch with various concentrations of ethanol in water were obtained. These data were used to calculate the effect of multistage countercurrent extraction of mechanically dewatered starch using a mathematical model of the process. The energy required for drying the extracted starch and recovering the alcohol is predicted to be considerably less than that required for conventional drying. Energy savings up to 40% and more are possible.     

Determination of optimum operating conditions and simulation of drying in a textile drying process

In this study, drying behavior of viscose yarn bobbins was investigated experimentally to specify the optimum drying conditions and a drying model was proposed for simulation of drying. The experiments were conducted in a pressurized hot-air bobbin dryer, which was designed and manufactured based on the dryers used in the textile industry. Drying process was performed for various drying parameters: bobbin diameter, drying temperature, drying pressure, and volumetric flow rate of drying air. The results show that total drying time is strongly dependent on drying pressure, drying temperature, and volumetric flow rate and increase at these parameters shortens the drying time considerably. The results also show that the minimum energy consumption is for lower values of drying temperature and drying pressure and modest and higher values of volumetric flow rate. Simulation results show that the most appropriate model in describing the drying curves of viscose yarn bobbins is the stretched exponential model.     

The Relative Activation Energy of Food Materials: Important Parameters to Describe Drying Kinetics

An effective drying model should be accurate and require a small number of experiments to generate the parameters. The relative activation energy of various food materials, important drying kinetic properties used in the reaction engineering approach, is evaluated and summarized. The reaction engineering approach is then implemented to model the global and local drying rates of food materials. By using the relative activation energy, the reaction engineering approach describes the (R² higher than 0.99) global drying rate of food materials well. The reaction engineering approach can be coupled with a set of equations of conservation of heat and mass transfer to model the local drying rate of food materials. The relative activation energy is indeed proven to be accurate to model the local drying rate. While the predictions are accurate, the reaction engineering approach is very effective in generating the drying parameters since the relative activation energy can be generated from one accurate drying run. Different drying conditions of the same material with similar initial moisture content would result in the similar relative activation energies. The drying kinetics parameters generated here are readily used for design of new equipment, evaluating the performance of existing dryers, and monitoring the product quality.     

片烟增湿与干燥的薄层模型及动力学研究

为研究不同温湿度条件下烟叶加工中的水分迁移规律,从水分迁移速率、动力学模型及参数应用性三个部分分析了攀枝花C2F片烟的增湿及干燥特性。结果表明,片烟的增湿和干燥都经历升速段、第一降速段和第二降速段三个阶段的速率变化过程 ,通过逐步提高湿度的控制方法 可以避免冷凝吸湿,增强片烟增湿的均匀性;考察了6种薄层动力学模型,其中以Midilli模型对片烟的吸湿和干燥过程拟合效果最好;结合实际复烤生产中的润叶及复烤水分控制区间,发现动力学参数与区间内水分变化时间有很好规律性 ,对实际生产具有很好的理论和应用参考性。      

干燥方式对苜蓿超微粉物化特性及抗氧化活性的影响

为研究不同干燥方式对苜蓿超微粉物化特性及抗氧化活性的影响,以苜蓿超微粉总色差为指标,采用正交实验法,确定苜蓿超微粉的最佳护色方法,优化热风干燥工艺参数;通过测定苜蓿超微粉粒度、溶解度、持水力、持油力、DPPH自由基清除率等理化指标,比较热风干燥和真空冷冻干燥得到的苜蓿超微粉之间的物化特性和抗氧化活性差异。结果表明,采用热风干燥法干燥苜蓿的最佳工艺参数为:干燥温度70℃、干燥时间8 h,护色剂为0.15% L-半胱氨酸时,此条件制备的苜蓿粉具有较好的物化性质。并且苜蓿超微粉粒度的减小能明显提高苜蓿粉的抗氧化活性。真空冷冻干燥苜蓿超微粉具有很好的物理化学特性,经过干燥粉碎后能够很好的保留其中的营养价值和抗氧化活性,但其时间和能源消耗较大;而热风干燥苜蓿粉的物化特性及抗氧化活性相对较差,但其干燥时间短,能源消耗较少。     

扁杏仁水解蛋白的喷雾干燥及其抗氧化活性

通过响应面设计方法探讨减压浓缩脱水比例、进风温度和进料速度等喷雾干燥工艺参数对扁杏仁水解蛋白溶液干燥效果及水解蛋白粉抗氧化活性的影响,获得表征相关指标的数学模型,在实践过程中可以对相关指标进行预测。扁杏仁水解蛋白粉具有一定的抗氧化活性,但受到喷雾干燥工艺参数的影响,通过SAS统计分析软件对相关指标进行优化,并进行验证实验,总体而言,脱水比例在0.5～0.6之间,进风温度200℃左右,进料速度在270～320mL/h,可以获得较好的综合效果。     

基于“边界层”理论的纸张干燥动力学模型及其数值仿真

利用“边界层”理论推导出纸张表面水分蒸发动力学模型,建立了纸张干燥过程物料与能量衡算模型,并采用数值分析方法,模拟某一瓦楞纸机的干燥过程,得到纸张在干燥过程中的温湿度变化曲线以及水分蒸发速率变化曲线,并定量分析了该干燥过程纸张干燥的3个阶段：升温干燥阶段（1#～4#烘缸）、恒速干燥阶段（5#～39#烘缸）、减速干燥阶段（40#～48#烘缸）。当纸张湿含量下降到0.22 kg/kg时,进入减速干燥阶段。在线测量结果与模型仿真结果的对比分析表明,模拟结果和实际在线测量结果非常接近,验证了基于“边界层”理论推导的纸张干燥动力学模型的准确性。     

基于工艺流程的纸机干燥部建模与模拟

基于三段通汽式干燥部工艺流程,在“输入已知、输出未知”和“先烘缸、再通风、后纸张”的原则指导下,以烘缸组为最小建模单元,根据序贯模块法的基本思路,构建了纸机干燥部的静态模型。以某新闻纸机干燥部为对象进行模拟,给出了进出各模块的物流和能流信息,模拟结果与该纸机实际运行情况基本一致。该模型符合纸机干燥部工艺流程,可以用来模拟各模块之间的物流和能流信息,便于为干燥部用能分析提供依据。     

热泵式长豇豆干燥工艺优化

为保证热泵干燥后长豇豆产品的复水性和色泽等品质参数良好,同时降低豇豆干燥过程中的能量消耗,提高豇豆干燥生产的效率,采用Box-Behnken试验设计,分析干燥温度、漂烫时间和铺料密度3 个因素对豇豆产品的复水率、色差、单位耗能量和耗时4 个参数的影响,建立多元回归模型,并对干燥工艺参数进行优化,得到热泵式长豇豆干燥工艺的最佳条件为漂烫时间3 min、铺料密度2 kg/m2、干燥温度50 ℃。在该工艺条件下,实际测得长豇豆复水率1.15,色差值22.39,单位耗能量14.31（kW·h）/kg,耗时7 h,与预测值误差极小,为豇豆在实际热泵式干燥设备生产加工中的应用提供一定的理论依据。     

黄刺玫果粉喷雾干燥工艺优化及物性检测

用响应面法对黄刺玫果粉的喷雾干燥工艺进行优化并对果粉指标进行检测。以果粉得率、多酚含量为主要考察指标,在单因素实验的基础上,采用响应面法对黄刺玫果粉喷雾干燥的进料速度、出口风速、料液浓度主要因素进行考察。结果表明:采用响应面法建立的模型具有显著性意义,在本实验条件下,影响果粉得率的主要因素依次为:进料速度>出口风速>料液浓度。各因素最佳参数为:进料速度6.0 mL/min、出口风速4.0 m/s、料液浓度60%。果粉得率77.5%,与预测值78.6%的偏差为1.4%;实验所得黄刺玫果粉粒度均一细腻,粒径7.71 μm,色泽粉紫,口味酸甜,具有黄刺玫果特有的香味和良好的水溶性。多酚含量为36.62 mg/g,含水率小于5.0%。结论:喷雾干燥法是制备黄刺玫果粉理想的一种干燥方法。     

粮食连续干燥工艺及过程控制模拟实验系统（网络首发、推荐阅读）

对工艺参数优化和过程智能控制的研究是设计开发粮食干燥装备的重要内容,现有方法多采用模拟仿真、特性实验或现场实验等获取数据,与实际干燥结果存在较大差异或实验过程费时费力,易受干扰。研究参考大型连续式粮食干燥生产设备工艺和结构,设计了一种连续式粮食干燥模拟实验系统,包括进粮设备、干燥机主体、排粮设备、余热回收、冷凝装置、热风设备和测控系统,可模拟粮食干燥作业过程,优化干燥工艺参数,在室内开展粮食干燥品质变化规律、能耗规律和生产效率等实验研究。该系统不仅可作为科研机构的实验研究系统,还可用于生产一线工作人员岗前培训、大专院校相关专业的实验教学。     

ESTIMATION OF PARAMETERS FOR MOISTURE TRANSPORT IN FOODS1

The problem of estimation of transport parameters in food processing models is examined. A procedure is presented which consists of controlled experiments, application of theory to model the process and estimation of parameters by comparing the experimental and predicted data by the use of nonlinear optimization technique. The optimization program estimates a set of parameters in a food processing model which gives a minimum value of the sum of squares of the deviation between the observed and estimated values. The processes considered are drying, soaking and parboiiing of rice and peanut drying. Depending on the complexity of the process, the solution of the mathematical model is given in the form of analytical, finite difference or finite element approximations. The precision of transport parameters determination is also discussed.