www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org EFFECT OF SPRAY DRYING PROCESS PARAMETERS ON DIFFERENT PROPERTIES OF ACID LIME JUICE POWDER V. S. SONONE 1 , P. A. UNDE 2 & D. A. PAWAR 3 1 Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Agricultural Process Engineering, MPKV, Rahuri, India 2 Ex-Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural Process Engineering, MPKV, Rahuri, India 3 Scientist, Agro-Produce Processing Division, ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal, India ABSTRACT Spray drying parameters were the most important factors which influence the physico-chemical properties of powders. The levels of independent variables selected for the present experimentations were 140, 150 and 160°C inlet air temperature, 75, 87.5 and 100 ml/h feed flow rate and 14, 16 and 18 percent concentrations of carrier agents (maltodextrin, Arabic gum and blend of maltodextrin and Arabic gum) on the basis of preliminary trials conducted. The effect of these independent variables on the different properties such as moisture content, powder recovery, water solubility index and vitamin C content of acid lime juice powder was determined. The maximum vitamin C content was observed in the powder prepared using maltodextrin. The process parameters for retention of maximum vitamin C (368.584 mg/100g) were inlet air temperature of 150°C, concentration of maltodextrin of 16 percent and flow rate of 87.5 mL/h. RTS prepared from powder using maltodextrin. At these process conditions, moisture content, powder recovery and water solubility index obtained were 4.098 per cent (d.b.), 16.893 per cent and 95.530 per cent, respectively. KEYWORDS: Powder Prepared using Maltodextrin, Process Conditions, Moisture Content, Powder Recovery and Water Solubility Index Obtained, Rapidly Increasing Demand Both in the Domestic & The International Market Received: Sep 01, 2017; Accepted: Sep 18, 2017; Published: Sep 25, 2017; Paper Id.: IJASROCT201737 INTRODUCTION Spray drying is one of the techniques used extensively in food industries and it is used under optimal processing conditions to obtain powders. Commonly, fruits are dehydrated in order to be preserved, in which moisture must be removed in a way that has the least influence on the organoleptic qualities of the product (Davoodi et al., 2007). Indeed, the health-promoting capacity of fruits depends strictly on the processing of such foods (Hunter and Fletcher, 2002). The processed fruit quality is especially important, because high fruit consumption is encouraged throughout the country for health considerations. Therefore, dehydrated fruit is under rapidly increasing demand both in the domestic and the international market and is being used largely for the preparation of nutraceutical products or convenience food. Fruit can be dehydrated by various methods and the quality of the product depends on different parameters (Mrkìc et al., 2006). Fruit juice powders have many benefits and economic potentials over their liquid counterparts such as reduced volume or weight, reduced packaging, easier handling and transportation and much longer shelf life (Fazaeli et al., 2012). Spray-drying is a common process to obtain dry powders with low moisture content from liquid products as solutions, emulsions or suspensions (Peighambardoust et al., 2011). Several advantages are recognized for this Original Article International Journal of Agricultural Science and Research (IJASR) ISSN (P): 2250-0057; ISSN (E): 2321-0087 Vol. 7, Issue 5, Oct 2017, 299-312 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.