INTRODUCTION

Steam is the gaseous state of water with three forms, namely dry saturated
steam, wet steam or superheated steam. Steam is used widely in the food industry
such as in sanitation of food stuffs and other equipment, in blanching and also as a
heating medium. It is important that the steam used is completely in vapour state to
avoid corrosion of the equipment, thus, superheated steam is the most ideal form to be
used. Steam can be produced using a boiler or a steam generator. Such equipments
were powered using fuels, which may be in solid, liquid or gaseous forms. The figure
below shows the steam generator used in the pilot plant, IFST, UPLB and a boiler
with its parts.

Figure 1.1. Steam generator at IFST, UPLB

As mentioned earlier, steam can be used as heating medium, say in an

evaporator. An evaporator is an equipment used to concentrate liquid food products.
An evaporator is has three major parts; heat exchanger, evaporating section and the
separator. The evaporating section is where the liquid boils and evaporate while the
separator is where the vapor leaves the liquid and enters a condenser or to other
equipment. The rate of evaporation depends on many factors such as rate at which
heat can be transferred to the liquid, amount of heat needed to evaporate each
kilogram of water, maximum allowable temperature of the liquid, the pressure at
which evaporation takes place and the changes that may happen in the food during the
process (Earl, 1983). Usually, evaporation takes place at atmospheric conditions, in
where the sample’s temperature approaches the boiling point of water. However, this
can be disadvantageous to heat sensitive samples. The figure below shows a batch-
type evaporator
 Figure 1.2. A batch-type evaporator

In case of heat sensitive products, vacuum evaporation may be performed. A

vacuum evaporator operates at a temperature lower than the boiling point of the liquid
due to lowered pressure. The principle of this is stated in Gay-Lussac’s Law which
states that pressure is proportional to temperature, thus, if the pressure decreases
temperature also decreases (Earl, 1983).
Another application of steam is in thermal blanching. enzymatic and non-
enzymatic browning which discolors the product is one of the major problem in food
industry (Valentas, Rotstein and Singh, 1997). The enzyme responsible for enzymatic
browning is the polyphenoloxidase and it is abundant in plant samples. It catalyzes
the reaction between catechol, a phenol, which is converted to o-benzoquinone, a
compound that is responsible for the brown color in foods (Fennema, 1997). Through
blanching the naturally occurring enzymes are inactivated, thus, making them unable
to participate in other physical or biochemical changes in the food (Smith and Hui,
2004). Enzymes are made up of proteins which can be denatured at high temperature
around 50-90 oC (Valentas, Rotstein and Singh, 1997). Steam blanching is ideal to use
since nutrient losses especially the water soluble vitamins and soluble solids content
is minimal.

METHODOLOGY
For the first experiment, the batch type evaporator was operated. Temperature and
pressure inside the evaporator, of the steam supplied and of the condensate were
monitored, both for atmospheric and vacuum operations. The amount of condensate
and moisture lost during evaporation were also measured. The data obtained was used
to calculate boiler horsepower, steam economy and evaporating capacity. The states of
the steam and condensate were also determined.

The next experiment was steam blanching of potato slices. One kilogram of
potatoes were washed, peeled and immersed in water. The first 300 grams were steam
blanched for one minute, the next 300 grams for three minutes and another 300 grams
for five minutes. For each procedure, the volume and temperature of the condensate
were measured. The remaining 100 grams served as control, where no blanching was
done. The samples were left at atmospheric conditions and were observed for color
development for one hour.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

 Given the data obtained during the experiment, boiler horsepower, evaporating
capacity and steam economy can be calculated. Two boiler horsepower were
calculated, which are 4.648739948 bhp and 3.206115215 bhp respectively. For the
evaporating capacity, the results are _____ and ______. Lastly, the steam economy
are 0.88 for atmospheric and 1.21 for vacuum. The calculated steam quality are 0.68
and 1.94.
Based on the results, it can be said that vacuum evaporation is a better choice
as compared to atmospheric evaporation. This is because vacuum evaporation
consumes less energy as based on the lower boiler horsepower computed. Also, it is
capable of evaporating more moisture, as based on the evaporating capacity, which is
the amount vaporized per given time. It has also greater steam economy and the steam
used is superheated, which are advantageous.
However, some errors may have been occurred during the experiment since
some of the values are not possible, such as the steam economy and steam quality
which is greater than 1.

The figures below illustrate the control and the samples that underwent
thermal blanching.

Figure 1.4. Control

Figure 1.5. Sample blanched for one minute.

Figure 1.6. Sample blanched for three minutes.

Figure 1.7. Sample blanched for five minutes.

Results showed that the sample blanched for 3 minutes is the most desirable in
terms in color and texture among the samples and it is the ideal procedure for the
given product. This means that the time allotted during the process is enough to
destroy polyphenoloxidase which will catalyze enzymatic browning. The color and
appearance was also improved since steam removes air and dust on the surface which
alters the wavelength of the refracted light (Fellows, 2000). Softening of the product
may be one of the goals of steam blanching. It can be noted from the experiment that
further increase in temperature can cause softening of the sample. However, this may
be undesirable, such as in the case of the potato blanched for five minutes, in where
due to extensive heat application, the starch content underwent gelatinization. In
contrast, too little heat application may not effectively inactivate the enzymes
responsible for enzymatic browning.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION