The production of free flowing powder by spray drying of sugar-acid rich foods requires an appropriate carrier. High molecular weight materials such as maltodextrins are commercially used as a drying aid because of their high glass transition temperature (Tg). Alternatively, fibre-rich by-products from fruit and vegetable juice processing might provide high molecular weight elements that are suitable as a drying support. This study aimed to understand the variables affecting the spray-dried product of fruit juice so that non-sticky fibre-based juice powder could be obtained. Freeze dried carrot fibre was centrifically-milled to 50-100 µm sizes. Three sugar determination methods; enzymatic, enzyme membrane and HPLC with RID, were compared. The freeze drying performance of fructose, fructose + carrot fibre and fructose + carrot fibre + malic acid had the glass transition temperatures measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at 0.1 °C min-1. The results from the freeze drying were used as a key for the possibility of spray dried apple juice + carrot fibre. Similar methods were used to study freeze dried fructose + maltodextrin (DE max 9.8) and fructose + maltodextrin + malic acid. Dried sucrose, glucose and fructose were used to study glass transition temperature of melted amorphous sugars and mixtures by the visual experiment and DSC at 0.1°C min-1 of heating and cooling scans. The Gordon-Taylor equation was used to predict the Tg of anhydrous two-sugar mixtures from experimental and literature data. The Coachman and Karaze equation was used to predict Tg of three-sugar mixtures and compared to the experimental data. Spray dried powders of fructose + carrot fibre of 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70% w/w and apple juice concentrate + carrot fibre of 30, 40, 50, 60, 70% w/w at 165/75°C inlet/outlet temperature in a laboratory scale drier were compared to that of fructose + maltodextrin (DE max 9.8) and apple juice concentrate + maltodextrin of 50, 60 and 70% w/w (dry basis). Dielectric analysis in the range 200 Hz -1 MHz between 10-105 °C were applied to find the onset Tg (based on DSC results) from freeze dried mixtures of 14, 21, and 28% w/w (dry basis) carrot fibre+ fructose. The enzymatic method was found to be the most accurate method for sugar determination of fruit juice but the HPLC method was the most practical one. The results of Tg values of sugars and mixtures melted showed that the Tg values from heating and cooling scans of fructose, glucose and sucrose were in good agreement with literature. Fructose acted as a plasticizer; an increase in the fructose fraction decreased the Tg of sugar mixtures. Sucrose increased the Tg of the mixtures while the Tg of the three-sugar mixtures was less variable when there was a moderate to high proportion of glucose. The visual Tg values of sugars and mixtures were 7-28 °C higher than the onset DSC heating and cooling Tg values. This result suggested that more than one method should be used to study the glass transition of substances. The Gordon-Taylor equation did not fit well the Tg values of the dry sugars and their mixtures from this experiment. The variations might have been due to the degradation of sugar samples on the melting process. The Coachman and Karaze equation gave a good prediction of the three-sugar mixtures from this experiment. The carrot fibre was found to be crystalline. Carrot fibre increased the Tg of freeze dried fructose and decreased stickiness of fructose. Increasing malic acid fraction decreased Tg of the mixtures. Freeze dried fructose + maltodextrin showed higher hygroscopicity than freeze dried fructose + carrot fibre. It was not possible to determine Tg of fructose + maltodextrin + malic acid due to the swelling and hygroscopicity of the freeze dried samples. Tg values of freeze dried fructose + carrot fibre and fructose + maltodextrin were found to high enough to allow spray drying of these mixtures. The minimum fraction of carrot fibre to facilitate spray drying of fructose and apple juice concentrate was found to be 30%. Mixtures with maltodextrin at a fraction lower than 50% could not be successfully spray dried. When spray drying fructose + carrot fibre, apple juice + carrot fibre, fructose + maltodextrin and apple juice + maltodextrin at the appropriate ratios most of the powder stuck to the drier walls. The powder swept from the wall was free flowing with moisture content of approximately 2-4%. The Tg values of these powder indicated the wall build-up might be avoided in larger scale drying. Tg values of spray dried powder from the mixtures with fibre and maltodextrin were found to be not very different. The yield from mixtures with carrot fibre was three times higher than those of mixtures with maltodextrin. This cast doubts that Tg alone could be a good indicator for the stickiness of spray dried material. The microscope images and DSC scans of spray dried powders of fructose + carrot fibre and apple juice + carrot fibre showed crystalline material. The particle of spray dried fructose + maltodextrin and apple juice + maltodextrin were mostly amorphous. The crystals are more physically and chemically stable than the amorphous form. Thus carrot fibre is a good additive in spray drying of fruit juice. Dielectric analysis at low frequency was able to possible detect Tg of single and double components. For food polymer with many components it was found that Tg value was not consistently dependent on frequency. In conclusion, carrot fibre was a more effective carrier for spray drying than maltodextrin when compared on a mass basis and spray drying condition. Since edible fibre is an essential element needed by the human body, spray drying of fruit juice using fibre as a carrier showed the great potential of fibre in the application of fruit juice spray drying. In the case of clear juice, after reconstitution, the fibre can be easily separated from the juice as there seemed to be no chemical binding between the juice and the fibre during the spray drying process.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:58:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoseAMN_DISSERT.pdf: 2578831 bytes, checksum: 78ca7925672b7876fad1b54e774b3827 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-30 / With the objective to promote sustainable development, the fibres found in nature in abundance, which are biodegradable, of low cost in comparison to synthetic fibres are being used in the manufacture of composites. The mechanical behavior of the curau? and pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) composites in different proportions, 25% x 75% (P1), 50% x 50% (P2) e 75% x 25% (P3) were respectively studied, being initially treated with a 2% aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide. Mechanical analyses indicated that with respect to studies of traction, for the combination of P1 and P3, better results of 22.17 MPa and 16.98 MPa, were obtained respectively, which are higher than that of the combination P2. The results of the same pattern were obtained for analysis of bending resistance where P1 is 1.21% and P3 represents 0.96%. In the case of resistance to bending, best results were obtained for the combination P1 at 49.07 MPa. However, when Young's modulus values were calculated, the values were different to the pattern of the results of other tests, where the combination P2 with the value of 4.06 GPa is greater than the other combinations. This shows that the PALF had a greater influence in relation to curau? fibre. The analysis of the results generally shows that in combinations of two vegetable fibers of cellulosic origin, the fiber which shows higher percentage (75%) is the best option than to the composition of 50%/50%. In the meantime, according to the results obtained in this study, in the case where the application should withstand bending loads, the better composition would be 50%/50% / Com o objetivo de promover o desenvolvimento sustent?vel, as fibras encontradas em abund?ncia na natureza, que s?o biodegrad?veis e de baixo custo quando comparado com as fibras sint?ticas, vem sendo utilizadas na aplica??o de produ??o de comp?sitos. Neste trabalho foi analisado o comportamento mec?nico ? partir do ensaio de tra??o e flex?o, em um comp?sito h?brido tendo como matriz uma resina sint?tica ortoft?lica refor?ada com fibras de curau? e fibras da folha de abacaxizeiro (PALF), nas propor??es de 25% x 75% (P1), 50% x 50% (P2) e 75% x 25% (P3), respectivamente, com as fibras de curau? e as fibras da folha do abacaxizeiro sendo tratadas quimicamente por uma solu??o aquosa de hidr?xido de s?dio (NaOH) com 8% de concentra??o. As an?lises mec?nicas indicaram que com rela??o aos estudos de tra??o, para a combina??o P1 e P3, foram obtidas melhores resultados de 22,17 MPa e 16,98 MPa, respectivamente, que ? maior que da outra combina??o de P2. Os resultados do mesmo padr?o foram obtidos para an?lise de flex?o onde P1 ? 1,21% e P3 de 0,96% que s?o maiores do que o resultado obtido da combina??o P2. No caso de resist?ncia ? flex?o, melhores resultados foram obtidos para a combina??o P1 de 49,07 MPa. Mas, quando foi calculado o m?dulo de Young, os valores foram diferentes do padr?o dos resultados dos outros testes realizados, com a combina??o P2 com o valor de 4,06 GPa que ? maior que das outras combina??es. Isto mostra que as fibras PALF tiveram uma influ?ncia maior com rela??o ? fibra de curau?. A an?lise dos resultados em geral demonstra que nas combina??es de duas fibras vegetais celul?sicas, uma ou a outra fibra com porcentagem maior (75%) ? a melhor op??o do que na composi??o de 50%/50%, entretanto no caso onde a aplica??o ser? para suportar cargas de flex?o, a melhor composi??o seria 50%/50%