Análise dos processos fermentativos para produção de vinagre de cajá (spondias mombin).

Abstract

Vinegar is a very popular food used as a condiment and preservative liquor that values the raw material that determines it. Obtained by consecutive processes of alcoholic fermentation and acetic fermentation, this type of product is consumed by humans for millennia. Cajá (Spondias mombin) is a fruit very appreciated by the Brazilian population and presents attractive sensory and nutritional aspects. The production of cajá’s vinegar would be another alternative for its greater valorization and use. In this sense, this work aimed to compare the performance of bioprocesses related to vinegar production by two types of bioreactors. For the performance of the alcoholic fermentation and acetic processes, commercial yeast and acetic bacteria of strong vinegar of cane juice were used, respectively, under two forms of conduction: batch and fed-batch alcoholic fermentation and aeration systems in the acetic fermentation. The alcoholic fermentation process was accompanied by the determination of total soluble solids content and cell concentration, the acetic fermentation was followed by these parameters and also by determination of pH, temperature and total acidity. The kinetic and comparative analysis determined that the alcoholic fermentation that occurred in fed-batch obtained a yield of 3.48% while the fermentation that occurred in batch mode produced a yield of 10.23%. At the acetification, the reactor with stirring by Bubble Column provided yield of 3.6% while the fermentation without stirring the yield was 1.5%. The low yield acetification obtained in both reactors shows that the minimum acetic acid recommended concentration for vinegar production of 4% was not reached.