DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERISATION OF SPRAY-DRIED POWDER OF POMEGRANATE FOR NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS

Abstract

It has been noted that certain natural compounds have a vast array of nutritional benefits; however, many of these values may be lost or destroyed because they are not transformed into a product that contains all of the nutritional and therapeutic benefits that were initially contained in the raw plant material. Pomegranate spray-dried powder was created in order to solve this issue in the current study. The goal of the study is to create a spray-dried pomegranate powder, analyse spray-drying parameters such air inlet temperature and maltodextrin concentration, and track variables like yield, moisture content, hygroscopicity, bulk density, and solubility time. The current investigation used temperature conditions between 130 and 150 °C with polymer concentrations of 5%, 15%, and 25% w/v. It was found that the maximum yield (57%), lower moisture content (1.8%), lower hygroscopicity (i.e., 0.72 gm of water absorb / 100 gm of powder), higher bulk density (0.64 gm/ml), and longer solubility time (132 sec) are achieved at an air inlet temperature of 150 °C and a polymer concentration of 25%. To sum up, research helps to enhance the nutritional and therapeutic advantages.