Investigation on the Effect of Arabic Gum Concentration and Spray Dryer Temperature on the Physicochemical Properties of Aloe Vera Powder

Aloe vera is used industrially for various purposes where it is employed in many food products including beverages, milk, etc. One factor that makes aloe vera gel difficult to store and transfer is its high moisture content. This might be handled by the application of methods such as drying and dehydration. The application of spray drier to produce high Quality powder is a suitable method. The product obtained from this process contains smaller particles with a better particle size distribution, appearance, texture, drop characteristics, compressibility, mass density, dispersibility, and solubility index.

In this research, the drying of Aloe Vera gel was studied using a spray dryer in four different temperatures of 135,145,155 and 175°C and different Arabic gum concentration of %0, %1.5 and %3. Among the 12 produced samples, the two samples dried at 145 and 175 degrees Celsius and gum concentration of %1.5 with desirable conditions in terms of humidity, solubility and efficiency were studied for comparative tests such as pH, moisture, antioxidants capacity, level of aloin, size and shape evaluation by an electron microscope, particle color and size using the available samples on the market by applying one-way ANOVA test and Duncan's Multiple Range Test with a confidence level of %95.

The samples with higher input temperature and less process time contained more antioxidant capacity and aloin, with less quality degradation and have shown better qualitative results.

The sample dried at the temperature of 175°C and gum concentration of %1.5 was selected as the preferred sample in terms of the parameters used for this research.