Efficiency of Industrial Drying of Apple Pomace

Abstract

The paper analyses the efficiency of apple pomace production in an enterprise producing dried vegetable and fruit. The dried vegetable and fruit was traditionally produced in drum driers. Pomace it is the pulpy residue remaining after fruit has been crushed in order to extract its juice and constitutes up to 25% of the total processed raw material. The research shows that to produce 1 ton of dried fruit is needed about 3.2 tons of dried pomace and about 400 kg of coal dust is consumed. The economic production efficiency was estimated at over 178% and the profit on sales of 1 ton finished product was 185 PLN. The costs of the enterprise directly related to production were taken into account and expressed in net terms. Investigating energy consumption in the production of dried pomace extracts, it was found that to reduce the humidity 1 of ton of pomace by 1%, it was necessary to use 142 MJ of energy in various forms. Increasing the efficiency of production must be associated with a reduction in the amount of heat for drying and introducing changes in technology.