Efficacy of Technological Processing Aids in the Processing of Low-Quality Sugar Beet

Finding research gaps is important in the field of application of technological processing aids (TPAs) in the food system of sugar production, which is associated with the lack of a sufficient theoretical basis for understanding the mechanism of their interaction with each other and with the main components of the food system. The aim of the study was to substantiate the effective use of functional TPAs in the process of extracting sucrose from low-quality sugar beet. Identification of patterns of TPAs influence was carried out by means of a numerical experiment for two factors at three levels of variation. Each of the experiment variants reflected the ratio of the total dose of the introduced TPAs composition (15.0, 22.5 and 30.0 kg/1000 tons of beets – factor A) and the degree of bacterial infection of beet juice (4, 8 and 12 pcs. of mucous inclusions – factor B) specified by the planning matrix. It was found that under the influence of increasing the total dose of the TPAs combination, including an enzyme preparation, an antimicrobial agent and an antifoam, there was an increase in the sucrose content in the diffusion and purified juices and the effect of purification of the diffusion juice by 0.93 % and 0.97 % (relative to dry matter mass), respectively, and the purification efficiency of diffusion juice increased by 2.10 %. At the same time, a decrease in the consumption of lime milk, limestone and conventional fuel, as well as sucrose losses due to its content in the pulp and molasses was noted. The obtained relationship equations linking the total dosage of the tested combination of agents to the degree of bacterial contamination of beet juice convincingly indicated the absence of differences between the actual and calculated values of the studied parameters. A statistically significant effect on the variation of the sucrose content in both diffusion and purified juices of the degree of bacterial infection of beet juice (80.0 and 78.1 %) was revealed, for the effect of purification of the diffusion juice it was 26.7 %. The minimum possible consumption of limestone, consumption of conventional fuel and sucrose content in molasses can be obtained by processing sugar beets of the second and third degree of bacterial infection of beet juice (4…8 pieces of mucous inclusions) using the TPAs composition in the sucrose extraction process with a total maximum total dose of 30.0 kg/1000 tons of beets.

beet sugar, food system, research gap, technological processing aids, bacterial contamination, technical and economic indicators, regression analysis