Evaluación y análisis técnico financiero del proceso de prensado de licor de cacao (Theobroma cacao) para la obtención de manteca y polvo de cacao

Abstract

The objective of this project was to assess the pressing of cocoa liquor, the purpose of this operation was to separate the fat and solid particles. For this research cocoa beans CCN-51 were processed, the beans were cleaned, roasted, husked, grounded and alkalized to obtain cocoa liquor, the polyphenol content was determined during the process. The pressure (16 and 32 MPa), temperature (90 and 100°C) and load (full and half full cylynder) was evaluated during the pressing. The extraction yield was higher in the treatment performed with 32 MPa, 100 °C and full load, the yield was 75.2 +- 2.47%. The increase in pressure, temperature or the load is proportional to the increase in yield; the three factors influenced significantly, but the pressure was the most importante factor. Cocoa powder from the same treatment had 23.0 +- 2.42% of dispersibility, 39.67 +- 4.86 s of wettability and 17.89 +- 0.86 of insolubility. A producción plant of butter and cocoa powder from cocoa liquor was designed with a production area of 1094 m2; the economic analysis determined a value of $3 402 509 for NPV and 35.93% for IRR.