19-08-2014, 11:24 AM
Jaggery is an Indian traditional food used as a sweetening base and it is prepared by concentrating the sugarcane juice. Jaggery quality mainly depends upon the method of boiling and clarification apart from sugarcane juice quality. A clarification is the technique used for the separation of the soluble and insoluble non-sugar substances from sugarcane juice in jaggery preparation. In the traditional jaggery making process the method of juice evaporation is crude and most of the operations are carried out manually.
Jaggery is an Indian traditional food used as a sweetening base and it is prepared by concentrating the sugarcane juice. Jaggery quality mainly depends upon the method of boiling and clarification apart from sugarcane juice quality. A clarification is the technique used for the separation of the soluble and insoluble non-sugar substances from sugarcane juice in jaggery preparation. In the traditional jaggery making process the method of juice evaporation is crude and most of the operations are carried out manually.
Sugarcane juice was obtained from Co. 419 sugarcane variety was analyzed for its proximate composition. Clarification of the sugarcane as pre-treatment for obtaining quality jaggery was carried out by three different techniques; using alum as adsorbent, filtration by filter press and centrifugation with comparative studies. Optimization of sugarcane juice centrifugation process was carried out by response surface methodology. In the present work attempts were made to design the process and develop the machinery for jaggery making. A multipurpose concentrator equipped with rotating bowl and stirrer fabricated at lab scale was used for designing the jaggery making process. For efficient heating LPG burners with unreduced pressure regulator was used to replace the traditional heating in Chulha’s and LPG flow rate (29 ml/s) was optimized for quick and efficient boiling. Optimization of stirrer and bowl speed (36 and 58 rpm respectively) was carried out to increase the evaporation rate by maintaining heating rate constant. Jaggery making process was standardized and bhendi powder concentration (clarificant) was optimized.
Thermal properties of the juice and jaggery were studied. Analysis of proximate composition and sensory evaluation of the jaggery prepared in laboratory was carried out and compared with the industrial jaggery. Finally, attempts were made to propose machinery for continuous jaggery making process, consisting of centrifuge for clarification of juice, heat exchanger for preheating and falling film evaporators for concentration of the juice.