Comparison of experimental setups for the production of milk concentrates and subsequent characterization

Abstract

Vacuum concentration is an intermediary step in the dairy powder production and an essential step in the process scheme for the production of sweetened concentrated milk, a product widely popular and produced in Brazil. As any food product, it is subject to research and development in order to improve the original recipe and propose new derivatives, whether in academic or industrial environments. The tests required for the development of products may be costly in relation to the supply in raw material and cleaning agents, energy and water consumptions as well as water treatment after the cleaning of the equipment. As part of the reduction of production costs and environmental impact, the present work aims to evaluate the possibility of using smaller equipment for concentration as well as to produce relevant data on the processing of SCM. Two types of vacuum evaporators were used for this work: a pilot scale falling film evaporator and a lab scale rotary evaporator. Based on the observed results, it was possible to evidence the similarity of the data obtained for the concentrates (with and without sucrose addition) in both equipment for the measurements of density, viscosity and surface tension with deviations less than 10%.