Effect of Inlet Temperature on Pineapple Powder and Banana Milk Powder

Abstract

Fruits are the main source of fiber which gives great beneficial to human health. Consumption of fruits/fiber are incredibly low among youngsters especially little children. The study focuses on producing fruits and fiber powder as a means for easy transportation, storage and longer shelf life. The objective of this research work are to produce banana milk powder that can help children that suffers from constipation as well as to produce pineapple powder at lower inlet drying temperature. The effect of spray and freeze dryer were studied for banana milk powder, whereas, spray drying method was chosen for producing pineapple powder. The effects of the type of dryers, pump feed speed in the spray dryer and the ratio proportion of the banana milk powder were investigated in the study. The result indicate that increasing proportion ratio of the banana milk powder produced lower yield of the powder. It was also concluded that speed 2 was the ideal condition for banana. Pineapple was found to be dried best at 25% maltodextrin concentration and 150°C as it produced the lowest moisture content at 4%db. Pineapple powder recovered the highest given as 80g at 150°C and 25% concentration of maltodextrin. Particle size of 4.097 micrometer was found to be the finest at the lowest inlet drying temperature at 130°C.