Evaluation of tomato paste drying at laboratory and bench scale

Abstract

Spray drying is the most efficient technique used in various industries for converting a wide range of products into powder form. For this, the process parameters must be optimized to guarantee product quality. When operating with different process scales it is important to ensure that the product characteristics are maintained at the upper scale. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the process at laboratory and bench scales, as well as the characteristics of the powder product. It was demonstrated that it is possible to obtain dehydrated tomato paste, at bench scale, with operational conditions and physical and chemical characteristics similar to those achieved in the optimized process at laboratory scale.