Obtenção de defensivo agrícola de extrato vegetal Azadirachta indica a. juss. (meliacae), Via Spray Dryer

Abstract

The neem tree, Azadirachta indica a. juss. (meliacae) is a species of plant well investigated for its effective properties in the fight against insects. Basically, all parts of the plant have bitter compounds that reserve food impacts and can directly interfere with the hormonal processes of insects. All the samples presented in this study were dried by spray dryer. The objective of the present work was the development of the drying technology of the vegetal extract from the seeds of the Neem tree by the spray dryer method. The process control technology, through the evaluation of physical chemical parameters of the powder obtained by the process and compared with the in natura extract. The Neem plant extract was submitted to the drying processes by spray dryer at temperatures: 140,150 and 160 °C, with carrier agent concentrations: 15; 20 and 25 g / l and blower flow rate of: 2.5; 2.9 and 3.4 m3.min-1. According to the analysis of the results for each physical-chemical characterization carried out in this study, as well as the use of the different drying conditions applied, it can be observed that the average values obtained for the water activity of the samples are in the safe range its stability in relation to the development of microorganisms (Aw below 0.60) and that in general there was no significant difference (p≥0.05) for the different processing conditions, with some exceptions. It was also verified that for all the other characterizations applied in this work, such as: moisture content, wettability, bulk density, tapped density, particle density, porosity, solubility and grain size obtained samples with similar values and in some cases even better than those of literature.