INDUSTRY PROFILE #17
GLUCOSE FROM
CASSAVA STARCH
Prepared By
Peter K. Carrell
Reviewed By
Robert Batey
Arnold Krochmal
Published By
VOLUNTEERS IN TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
1600
Wilson Boulevard, Suite 500, Arlington, Virginia 22209 USA
Telephone: (703) 276-1800,
Fax: (703) 243-1865
Telex: 440192 VITAUI,
Cable: VITAINC
Internet:
vita@gmuvax.gmu.edu, Bitnet:
vita@gmuvax
Glucose from Cassava Starch
ISBN:
0-86619-311-1
[C] 1990, Volunteers in Technical Assistance
INDUSTRY PROFILES
Introduction
This Industry Profile is one of a series briefly describing
small or medium-sized industries. The
Profiles provide basic information for starting
manufacturing plants in developing nations.
Specifically, they provide general plant descriptions,
financial, and technical factors for their
operation, and sources of information and expertise.
The series is intended to be useful in
determining whether the industries described warrant further
inquiry either to rule out or to
decide upon investment.
The underlying assumption of these Profiles is that the individual
making use of them already has some knowledge and experience
in industrial development.
Dollar values are listed only for machinery and equipment
costs, and are primarily based on
equipment in the United States.
The price does not include shipping costs or import-export taxes,
which must be considered and will vary greatly from country
to country. No other investment
costs are included (such as land value, building rental,
labor, etc.) as those prices also vary.
These items are mentioned to provide the investor with a
general checklist of considerations for
setting up a business.
IMPORTANT
These profiles should not be substituted for feasibility
studies. Before an investment is made
in
a plant, a feasibility study should be conducted.
This may require skilled economic and
engineering expertise.
The following illustrates the range of questions to which answers must
be obtained:
*
What is the extent of the present demand for
the product, and how is it now being
satisfied?
*
Will the estimated price and quality of the
product make it competitive?
*
What is the marketing and distribution plan
and to whom will the product be
sold?
*
How will the plant be financed?
*
Has a realistic time schedule for
construction, equipment, delivery, obtaining
materials
and supplies, training of personnel, and the start-up time for the plant
been
developed?
*
How are needed materials and supplies to be
procured and machinery and
equipment
to be maintained and repaired?
*
Are trained personnel available?
*
Do adequate transportation, storage, power,
communication, fuel, water, and
other
facilities exist?
*
What management controls for design,
production, quality control, and other
factors
have been included?
*
Will the industry complement or interfere
with development plans for the area?
*
What social, cultural, environmental, and
technological considerations must be
addressed
regarding manufacture and use of this product?
Fully documented information responding to these and many
other questions should be
determined before proceeding with implementation of an
industrial project.
Equipment Suppliers, Engineering Companies
The services of professional engineers are desirable in the
design of industrial plants even though
the proposed plant may be small.
A correct design is one that provides the greatest economy in
the investment of funds and establishes the basis of
operation that will be most profitable in the
beginning and will also be capable of expansion without
expensive alteration.
Professional engineers who specialize in industrial design
can be found be referring to the
published cards in various engineering magazines.
They may also be reached through their
national organizations.
Manufacturers of industrial equipment employ engineers
familiar with the design and installation
of their specialized products.
These manufacturers are usually willing to give prospective
customers the benefit of technical advice by those engineers
in determining the suitability of their
equipment in any proposed project.
VITA
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) is a private,
non-profit, volunteer organization
engaged in international development.
Through its varied activities and services,
VITA fosters
self-sufficiency by promoting increased economic
productivity. Supported by a volunteer
roster
of over 5,000 experts in a wide variety of fields, VITA is
able to provide high quality technical
information to requesters.
This information is increasingly conveyed through low-cost advanced
communication technologies, including terrestrial packet
radio and low-earth-orbiting satellite.
VITA also implements both long- and short-term projects to
promote enterprise development and
transfer technology.
GLUCOSE FROM CASSAVA STARCH
===================================================================
Prepared By: Peter
K. Carrell
Reviewed By: Robert
W. Batey
===================================================================
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The Product
The product is clear, colorless, glucose syrup, extracted
from
dried cassava starch or cassava chips.
It is sold in drums or
tank wagons.
Glucose, also called dextrose, was first manufactured in
France
early in the 19th century as a sweetener to replace sucrose
(table sugar) which had become scarce in wartime.
The variety of
its uses has since grown enormously.
Today, glucose is valued in
almost all industrial countries for its unique
properties. In
candies (sweets) and preserves it provides "body"
(desired density
and flow characteristics) and controls crystallization.
In
canning, it provides body to the syrup without too much
sweetness.
The Facility
A small plant can operate 250 days a year on a three-shift
continuous
basis and produce about 2,500 tons of glucose syrup.
The
degree of conversion of the starch to glucose depends on
customer
needs. The plant supplies
a small market and can be expanded, if
market conditions allow, to take advantage of economies of
scale.
The plant should be accessible by good roads and should be
near a
good supply of cooking water.
Access to a municipal sewer system
is also recommended.
Disposal of spent carbon and fiber tailings
from the starch screen are the major solid-waste
problems. Additional
environmental issues concern disposal of effluent from
housekeeping water and gases from the boiler flue and the
convertor.
However, the wastes pose very little health hazard when
added to the environment.
GENERAL EVALUATION
The process is relatively simple and its principles are
widely
understood. The
market demand is stable at levels depending on
local economic development.
Economic Outlook
Profitability depends on market factors, which, in turn, are
heavily influenced by the agricultural and trade policies of
the
country. Transport
costs are not usually a major factor.
Manufacturing Equipment Flexibility
The same equipment can be used to produce a crude, solid
form of
dextrose ("cast sugar") by acquiring aluminum pans
in which the
evaporator product is allowed to crystallize.
After grinding,
this product is suitable as a reducing agent for
tanning. Making
cast sugar requires more acid to be added to the convertor
supply
and slowing the rate of starch breakdown.
Knowledge Base
A chemist experienced in the food industry, particularly
related
to sweets, preserves, and canning, is needed to explain the
uses
of this product to potential customers.
A chemical engineer is
needed to perform or supervise analytical process control as
well
as oversee mechanical operations.
It is strongly recommended that
a professional engineer with experience in the production of
glucose from starch be retained, at least when the plant is
in
the planning stage.
Quality Control
The product meets established standards.
Syrup has a reducing-sugar
content equivalent to 30% to 40% glucose by dry weight
("dextrose
equivalent [DE]" = 30 to 40), and contains 80% to 82%
dissolved materials by weight.
Cast sugar requires a DE of 90.
Quality is assured by having the right laboratory
instruments and
the plant personnel to use them correctly.
For the small plant,
amounts of chemicals are measured by volume or weight.
For larger
production, bags or barrels of some materials may be
counted.
Acidity of the convertor supply is checked by
titration. Acid
addition and product dry substance are monitored
hourly. The
product is neutralized by adding sodium carbonate solution
and
the end-point is checked with a pH meter.
The needed amount of
activated carbon is weighed according to the volume of the
treatment
tank.
The concentration of dry substance is measured with a
torsion
tube density controller.
Batch quality testing involves determining
reducing sugars (DE) by copper reduction, dry substance by
refractometry, color by spectrophotometry, and taste,
appearance,
and odor by direct inspection.
Constraints and Limitations
Cassava is most likely to be grown only in moderate or
tropical
climates. Economical
motor transport is limited to about 400 km.
If long-distance rail transport lowers the temperature to 5
degrees C or less, the tank car may need to be reheated to
speed
unloading; this, in turn, can lead to unacceptable color
changes.
MARKET ASPECTS
Users
Glucose syrup in used for hard candies and preserves, and
for
making medicinal syrups, canning syrups, and table
syrups. It can
be used in manufacturing table syrups to adjust their viscosity
or consistency.
There are now better products for supplemental
addition to milk for infant feeding, but glucose syrup
remains an
inexpensive substitute.
Suppliers
The raw material is dried cassava flour or chips.
Cassava is
grown in Africa, Central and South America (especially
Brazil),
India, and Indonesia, mostly for use as a boiled vegetable.
Malaysia has a cassava-processing plant.
Manufacturing chemicals,
all common in trade, are hydrochloric acid, powdered
activated
carbon, and sodium carbonate (soda ash).
Sales Channels and Methods
Sales are by direct contact with those manufacturers who are
prospective users.
Some of then may already use syrups prepared
from other sources.
Good technical service is required to adapt
the users' present formulation to the new product.
Once a use
pattern has been established, brokers may help to sell the
product
in drum lots. Sales
to individuals are promoted by mass
advertising and the usual channels for food specialties.
Geographic Extent of Market
The plant should be located where cassava is grown or is
readily
available at low cost.
If the water content of the cassava chips
significantly increases their shipping weight, it is best
that
the plant be located near the source of the raw material.
The
product is stable and is readily transported in bulk, as
well as
in drums and bottles.
High bulk-transport costs can limit the
size of the market area, The 400-km limit on motor transport
can
also control the size of the market area.
Competition
Glucose syrup is well known, and competitive syrups are
available
worldwide. Syrups
are manufactured from various materials in such
tropical and semitropical countries as Australia, Brazil,
colombia,
Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan,
and Venezuela. In
most of these, maize is the raw material.
Some broken rice is processed in Pakistan.
Some wheat is used in
Australia and New Zealand.
Market Capacity
As a guideline, consider that U.S. annual usage of glucose
syrups
amounts to 9 kg per capita, of which 60% replaces sucrose in
the
canning of foods. At
half this per-capita consumption, the plant
described here would supply a population of 1/2 to 1 million
people.
PRODUCTION AND PLANT REQUIREMENTS
_____________________________________________________________
Requirements
Annual Output:
2,500 tons
-------------------------------------------------------------
Infrastructure, Utilities
Small
Plant
Land
1500 sq m
Building
400 sq m
Power
30 kW
Steam (
electric boiler) 600 kg/h
Fuel (gas)
Water
cooling (from
stream) 1400 cu m/d
boiler feed
water 14 cu m
process, use
condensate
from
evaporated heater and: 6 cu
m
------------------------------------------------------------
Major Equipment & Machinery
Small Plant
Tools &
Machinery
converter tank
neutralization
vat
evaporator
lift truck
2
rotary leaf
filter
Support equipment
& parts
Chemical lab
instruments
Production tools
& equipment
transportation
equipment
furniture &
fixtures
Materials & Supplies
Small Plant
Raw Materials
cassava
starch 1870
tons
hydrochloric
acid 8 tons
sodium
carbonate 2750
tons
Supplies
lubricants &
hand tools
cutting tools
& abrasives
maintenance &
spare parts
office supplies
Packaging; for
example:
Drums, 20 and
200 1
Bottles, 500
ml
-----------------------------------------------------------
Labor
Small Plant
Skilled
3
Semiskilled
6
Unskilled
6
Indirect
general
mechanic 1
supervisor (grad.
foods 1
technician/industrial chemist)
sales
representative
1
<FIGURE>
06p06y.gif (600x600)
Explanation of Diagram
Workflow begins with receipt of dried cassava starch or
chips, if chips, a mill and dust collector
should be added. The
raw material is dumped into the slurry tanks with water to make a slurry of
30 percent dry substance.
It is screened to remove the fibers and then pumped to a convertor
supply
lank. The chemical
breakdown of starch to sugar takes place in the presence of weak acid.
After the
breakdown has proceeded to the desired stage, the acid is
neutralized with soda ash (sodium carbonate).
Impurities are then removed with activated charcoal in
filter presses and the product is concentrated by
evaporation as diagrammed.
The tanks and pipes are made of stainless steel and other
materials in standard use for food processing.
Filter presses can be made of wood or polypropylene.
REFERENCES
Unless otherwise stated, these addresses are in the United
States.
Technical Manuals & Textbooks
Grace, M. R. (ed.), Cassava Processing, rev. ed.
Plant production
and protection papers, No.
3. Rome (Italy):
Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, 1977.
Equipment Suppliers
Anhydro Division of APV Crepaco, Inc., 120 John S. Pietsch
Square, Attleboro Falls, Massachusetts 02763.
Plate evaporators,
heat exchanges.
Chemineer, Inc., P.O. Box 1123, Dayton, Ohio 45401.
Agitators.
Dedert Corp., 20000 Governors Drive, Olympia Fields,
Illinois
60461. Falling film
evaporators.
Illinois Water Treatment Co., 4669 Shepherd Trail, Rockford,
Illinois 61105. Ion
exchange, chromatographic enrichment.
Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd., 5-2 Marunouchi
2-Chome,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100; P.0 Box 245, Tokyo Central,
Japan. Ion
exchange, chromatographic enrichment.
Mixing Equipment Co., Inc., 138 Mt. Read Blvd., Rochester,
New
York 14603.
Agitators.
Sparkler Filters, Inc., Box 19, Conroe, Texas 77305.
Safety
filters, leaf filters.
U.S. Filters Corporation, 12442 E. Putman St., Whittier,
California
90602. Rotating leaf
filters.
Financing and Engineering Companies
A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co., 2200 East Eldorado St.
Decatur,
Illinois 62525.
Cargill, Inc., P.O. Box 9300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55440
CPC International, Inc., International Plaza, P.O. Box 8000,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632.
(This company has the widest
representation.)
Professional Services:
Intensa, S.A., Rio Panuco 82, Col. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, D.F.,
Mexico.
Karl Kro/yer Genbrog, A/S, Dronningens Tvaergade 16, DK-1302
Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd., 5-2 Marunouchi
2-chome,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100; P.0 Box 245, Tokyo Central, Japan.
Suomen Sokari Oy (Finnish Sugar Company), Kyllikenportti 2,
SF-00240 Helsinki, Finland.
VITA Resources
VITA has a number of documents on file dealing with industrial
processes. VITA also
provides a variety of services to help set
up processing plants, including locating used equipment,
brokering,
etc. Fees depend on
service rendered.
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