Flavored Drink Production Using Broken Rice: Evaluation of Physical-Chemical Properties and Power Consumption of Industrial Stirring System

The industrial rice processing generates, in average, 14% of broken grains called grits, which are not well accepted by consumers, representing large economic loss. Researches have been conducted to increase the use of rice by-products as well as their benefit. Among them, beverages are attracting the attention, being develop. To contribute to this field, this study aimed to prepare a non-alcoholic flavored drink from rice grits; evaluate the physical-chemical properties and evaluate de power consumption of stirring system for the drink industrial production. The drink production involved the cooking of the rice grits, followed by crushing, homogenization, filtration and flavorization in a stirring tank, obtaining the final product for consumption. The power consumption calculation for mixing tanks was evaluated in three different situations at 25ºC, considering the pre-defined tank design and the drink characteristics. Results based on the physicochemical characteristics indicate that the rice flavored drink is a food alternative to substitute milk or soy extract drinks. On the industrial production aspects, the increasing in the consumed energy to the small stirring variations was observed, and it needs to be considered to the stirring equipment design in the industrial process.