Sugarcane Juice Powder Produced from Spray Drying Technology: A Review of Properties and Operating Parameters

Sugarcane juice (SGJ) has been known to possess nutritious, curative, and preventive properties. However, its use and marketing have been greatly limited due to issues such as preservation difficulty and short shelf life, which come into play due to enzymes and microbial activity. The conversion of the juice into powder has been shown to retain the nutrients of the juice as well as be a sustainable solution to its preservation problems. This study is a review of the documented observations of various researchers on the production of SGJ powder. This study critically analysed for similarities, differences, and trends in reported studies, as well as gave some recommendations to improve the quality of the powder. It was observed that for the production of the powder, the most successful and utilized drying technique is the spray drying technique. Operating parameters such as the choice and concentration of the drying agent, inlet and outlet air temperature, presence of additives, total soluble solids of feed solution, and the atomizer disc rotational speed were observed to affect the yield and the powder properties. Maltodextrin, a drying agent, was observed to give the highest yield and the best sensory and non-sensory properties in relation to other drying agents that have been utilized. The highest yield of SGJ powder obtained is 91.19% of the total solids of the feed material. It is expected that this study would lay the foundation to educate future researchers interested in the production of quality SGJ powder.