Processamento de urucum em leito de jorro.

Abstract

The Annato (Bixa Orellana L) is an arbust native of the Tropical America. Their seeds are covered by a rouge layer that has the higher concentration of bixine. Bixine is a natural dye used in the food, cosmetic and pharmacological industries in substitution of the sintetics dyes restricted by the W.H.O. (World Health Organization). The spouted bed dries the Annato seeds to an humidity level suitable for the storage and produces a powder concentrate in bixine also. In the Northeast of Brazil, in most cases a naturally solar drying is utilized. This procedure may to degradate bixine by the non-controlled exposure to the light and heat. The objective of this work is to obtain some knowledge about the applicability of spouted bed to the drying of Annato seeds without damage, making studies about the best operational conditions to get the optimal working range. Other objectives are to study the physical properties of Annato seeds from diferents regions, the comparison of the performances of fixed bed and spouted bed and the modeling by diffusional theory to adjust the experimental data. The spouted bed is composed by a cylindrical column, 100 cm height and 60 cm diameter, opened at top and with a conical base of 60° with the air input in the bottom. A cyclone is conected at the top of the column. The tests were maked in the batch regime. From the experiences it was observed that the behaviour of the drying courves was not changed by the artificial humidification. The reproductibility was good. The air flow and the central tube lenght d'ont have affected the drying courves. The spouted bed shows a more efficient performance that the fixed bed for the drying of Annato seeds. The proposed model shows a good fitting of the experimental data, so, it may be utilized to calcul the theoretical drying time needed for a specified humidity level.