Concentrated sugarcane juice powder and method for preparing the same using the convection current freeze drying apparatus

A system for preparing sugarcane juice concentrated powder, comprising:

• a sugarcane juice extracting apparatus having a mesh pattern of micro ridges operable to extract a maximum amount of sugarcane juice from sugarcane stalks;
• a convection current vacuum freeze drying apparatus comprising:
• a dryer chamber unit comprising a plurality of trays for depositing sugarcane juice blocks to be freeze dried;
• a convection current condenser unit, mechanically connected to said dryer chamber unit, comprising a plurality of first elongate heat exchange tubes, each of said plurality of first elongate heat exchange tubes having fins arranged around an outer circumference of each of said plurality of first elongate heat exchange tubes, wherein said plurality of first elongate heat exchange tubes substantially fill an internal volume of said convection current condenser unit;
• a refrigerator unit mechanically connected to said convection current condenser unit, operable to provide a cold refrigerant gas to said plurality of first elongate heat exchange tubes;
• a cooling tower unit mechanically connected to said convection current condenser unit;
• a primary vacuum pump unit, mechanically connected to said convection current condenser unit and said cooling tower unit, operable to provide a vacuum pressure to said convection current condenser unit;
• and
• a heater unit mechanically connected to provide a heat energy to both said dryer chamber unit and said convection current condenser unit;
• a controller unit;
• and
• a database electrically coupled to communicate with said controller unit, wherein said controller unit is electrically coupled to control and receive sensed operational settings from said dryer chamber unit, said convection current condenser unit, said refrigerator unit, said cooling tower unit, said primary vacuum pump unit, and said heater unit, wherein said database is configured to store predetermined operational settings and wherein said controller unit is operable to compare said sensed operational settings and said predetermined operational settings.

A method for preparing a concentrated sugarcane juice powder comprising the following steps:

• (a) selecting and preparing sugarcane stalks by a predetermined quality guideline;
• (b) extracting sugarcane juice by inserting said sugarcane stalks into a sugarcane juice extracting apparatus having a mesh pattern of micro ridges;
• (c) adding probiotics into said sugarcane juice;
• (d) freezing said sugarcane juice in frozen sugarcane juice molds from −40° C. to −35° C. for 25 minutes to 30 minutes in said frozen sugarcane juice molds using a individual quick freezer (IQF) to form frozen sugarcane juice;
• and
• (e) vacuum freezing said frozen sugarcane juice molds using a convection current vacuum freeze drying apparatus wherein said vacuum freezing step further comprises:
• (f) loading specific freeze drying settings for sugarcanes from a database into a controller unit;
• (g) using said controller unit to cause said convection current vacuum freeze drying apparatus to perform said vacuum freezing step in accordance with said specific freeze drying settings for sugarcanes;
• (h) measuring real-time operational parameters from said convection current vacuum freeze drying apparatus during said vacuum freezing step is performed;
• (i) comparing said specific freeze drying settings for sugarcanes with said real-time operational parameters to obtain operational differences;
• (j) if said operational differences are less than a predetermined error ranges, continuing said vacuum freezing step until said extracting sugarcane juice step is finished;
• otherwise, adjusting said real-time parameters of said convection current vacuum freeze drying apparatus until said differences in operations are less than a predetermined error ranges;
• wherein said convection current vacuum freeze drying apparatus further comprises a dryer chamber unit, a convection current condenser unit comprising a plurality of elongate heat exchange tubes each having fins arranged around an outer circumference of said plurality of elongate heat exchange tubes, a refrigerator unit, a cooling tower unit, a primary vacuum pump unit, and a heater unit.