Estimação dos parâmetros reológicos do suco de laranja industrializado adicionado de nanopartículas de curcumina

Abstract

Brazil was responsible for approximately 60% of the global orange juice production between 2020 and 2022. Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris is defined as a bacterium capable of deteriorating industrialized orange juice, and it is recognized as a major issue for the beverage industry. Therefore, in order to address this problem, the effects on rheological parameters were studied by adding curcumin nanoparticles to concentrated orange juice. Changes in rheological parameters in fruit juice can directly affect unit operations in industrial routines, such as pumping. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the changes in rheological parameters of concentrated orange juice with the addition of curcumin nanoparticles at three distinct concentrations, using two optimization methodologies: Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Curve Fitting, in Matlab. Three mathematical models were employed to assess the rheological parameters of concentrated orange juice: Power Law, Herschel-Bulkley, and Casson. Some rheological parameters, such as viscosity, exhibited alterations with increasing nanoparticle concentration in the concentrated orange juice. Particle swarm optimization demonstrated a similar fit to that obtained by curve fitting for the evaluated parameters, with approximate root mean square error (RMSE) values of 2.626 and 2.606 for the lowest tested concentration, respectively. The Herschel-Bulkley model showed a better fit for the rheological parameters in both optimization methods studied.