Title of the project:
Optimization of specific energy consumption in the dry process for bitter quinoa varieties, based on the application of a spouted bed
Responsible:
Ramiro Escalera Vásquez PhD
Email: rescalera@upb.edu
Researchers:
Carla Quiroga Ledezma PhD
Luis Arteaga Weill MSc
Mauricio Obando Estrada
Summary:
The specific energy consumption has been minimized for the novel dry process of bitter quinoa, by means of a spouted bed. The operating conditions and basic operating characteristics of the spouted bed were studied, in the removal of saponins from white Royal Quinoa grown in Oruro and Potosí.
Two glass spouted bed reactors of cylindrical-conical configuration at laboratory scale of 7,5 and 20 cm in diameter, nozzles of 1,4 to 5 mm in diameter and static spouted bed heights between 12,5 and 17,5 cm were used. The reactors were fed with air using a compressor of 400 L/min capacity, equipped with two flow meters (10-280 L/min) and a moisture and oil filter. Samples of white Royal Quinoa were processed in the reactors according to an experimental design, evaluating the effect of the factors: reactor diameter, nozzle diameter, spouted bed height and process time on the specific energy consumption, the percentage of saponins removal and the percentage of mass loss.
Published in Investigación & Desarrollo, No. 11, pp. 5 - 19, 2011