A comparative study on the effects of bentonite and sugar beet pulp application in molasses purification treatment

ABSTRACT The reduction of non-sugar compounds content in all intermediate and by-products of the sugar industry, especially molasses, shifts the production towards sugar yield increase and also facilitates betaine recovery. In this respect, the application of possible non-sugar compounds adsorbents is being intensively explored. The presented study investigates the application of sugar beet pulp and sodium bentonite as adsorbents in sugar beet molasses purification treatment. Potential reduction of non-sugar compounds content in molasses was monitored through measurements of molasses colour and turbidity. The experiments were conducted according to the Box-Behnken experimental design and the effects of independent variables: pH (3−7), adsorbent concentration (3−7 g/L) and molasses dry substance (30−50°Bx) on the sugar beet molasses colour and turbidity were determined by response surface methodology. Applied temperature (60°C) and mixing speed were kept constant throughout the experiments. The most pronounced impact on molasses colour and turbidity was expressed by pH, regardless of adsorbent used. Low pH treatments improved molasses colour reduction while opposite effect was observed regarding turbidity reduction. More efficient molasses colour reduction was noticed upon sodium bentonite addition compared to the sugar beet pulp. Conversely, greater molasses turbidity reduction was observed upon sugar beet pulp application.  </p

The impact of manufacturing process on the content of hard triglycerides, hardness and thermal properties of milk chocolate

The rheological and physical properties of the chocolate mass depend on the ingredient composition as well as the manufacturing process. For the purpose of this work, a milk chocolate mass of identical composition and raw materials was manufactured by using the two different manufacturing processes: a standard manufacturing process (SM) in five-roller mills including conching, and an unconventional manufacturing process in a ball mill (R1). The quality of both milk chocolate masses was examined by the comparison of thermal (differential scanning calorimetry analysis), textural properties (texture analysis), and the content of hard triglycerides (nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy). The main goal of this work was to determine whether chocolate can be produced in a ball mill, using the manufacturing process which results in significant savings, without causing drastic changes to the chocolate physical properties. The new manufacturing process rationalises the standard method by combining two phases, namely conching, and refining into a single one. This results in reduced initial and maintenance costs, as well as costs of workforce and fuel, etc. The results have shown that the new chocolate manufacturing process has a positive impact on texture and thermal properties, while the content of hard triglycerides remains the same

Textural and sensory properties of spreads with sucrose and maltitol

Spreads are confectionery products based on sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa powder, milk powder and other ingredients. Basic properties of these products are good spreadability in wide temperature range (from ambience to fridge temperature), rich creamy chocolate taste, and homogenous smooth structure without oil phase migration. The undesirable attribute of these products is their relatively high energy value (2300 kJ/100 g). In recent years, cocoa cream products with reduced energy values have become very popular among consumers and today they are present in the assortment of many confectionery manufacturers. One way to produce spreads with reduced energy value is the replacement of sugar (sucrose) with adequate sweetener. Maltitol is a low-energy polyol capable to qualitatively and quantitatively replace sucrose. Cocoa spreads with maltitol and with the combination of maltitol and sucrose (produced at different temperatures and mixer rotation speeds) have similar texture and rheological properties compared to the spreads with sucrose. The spreads with maltitol have about 15% lower energy value in comparison to the same product with sucrose