Diseño de una planta agroindustrial para la elaboración de fideo de pasta corta de quinua (Chenopodium quinoa) libre de gluten

Abstract

The objective of this work was the design of an industrial plant that produces gluten free quinoa short pasta. The product selected is looking for exportation to the United States because of its high cost of production and the demand for celiac patients concentrated in North America. Thus, the production capacity calculated with the population of California was set at 2 500 kg of quinoa per day. The operations of the process were: reception and classification of the raw material, cleaning, scouring, washing, centrifuging, conditioning, grinding, mixing, kneading, extrusion, drying, rest and finally packing and storage. The critical processes in the elaboration of the noodles were the conditioning of the grain and the drying of the noodles. For drying, preliminary tests were carried out. In these processes, in particular, we made point calculations such as mass and energy balances, and equipment design. Thus, drying temperatures of 65 and 70 ° C were established in the conditioning of the grain and drying of the noodles, respectively, to achieve in both processes a moisture of 12% in the resultant product. The IRR of project is 38, 14% and the NPV is 2 133 691, 22 USD, being it a viable project.