Feasibility of Producing Tomato Paste with Different Solids Content

Which alternative is more feasible for producing tomato paste with different solids content?

Analysis of Feasibility

To determine which alternative is more feasible, let's analyze the options provided:
a) Production of 28% paste by feeding all the pulp to the evaporator.
b) Production of 32% paste in the evaporator which is then blended with 6% pulp bypassing the evaporator.
c) What percentage of the feed is to be bypassed?

Option a:

If we feed all the pulp to the evaporator, which has a solids content of 6%, and we want to obtain a 28% tomato paste, we need to concentrate the solids content in the pulp. To calculate the amount of solids in the final 28% paste, we can set up a proportion using the mass of solids in the pulp and the mass of solids in the paste:
(6% solids in pulp) / (100% pulp mass) = (28% solids in paste) / (100% paste mass)
Solving for x, we find:
x = (6/28) * 100 = 21.43%
Therefore, to produce a 28% paste by feeding all the pulp to the evaporator, we would need to bypass 21.43% of the feed.

Option b:

In this case, we produce a 32% paste in the evaporator and then blend it with 6% pulp bypassing the evaporator. To calculate the overall solids content in this case, we need to take into account the proportion of the 32% paste and the 6% pulp:
(32% solids in paste) * (x) + (6% solids in pulp) * (1 - x) = (100% overall solids content)
Solving for x, we find:
x = 0.94 / 0.26 = 3.62%
Therefore, to obtain an overall solids content of 100% in this case, we would need to bypass 3.62% of the feed.
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