This invention relates to edible molasses products and t methods of and apparatus for the manufacture of same.

While molasses has long been recognised as a valuable foo supplement it is not widely consumed. This may be due to th fact that bulk molasses at room temperature is not convenien or pleasant to use. To date molasses has been included in forms of dried animal feed mixtures, however the available molasses products include only a small proportion of molasse whereby the hygroscopic nature of dehydrated molasses is minimised. Furthermore the existing known methods utilized t dehydrate molasses are not practical for commercial production of molasses products. In this respect processing of large quantities of liquid molasses by dehydrating has been attempted in the past but maintenance of adequate quality controls has proved impractical due partly to the unstable nature of molasses at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, dehydrated molasses is extremely difficult to store for extended periods due to its hygroscopic nature. This invention aims to alleviate the abovementioned difficulties and to provide edible molasses based products and methods of and apparatus for the manufacture of same which will be reliable and efficient in use. Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become apparent.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in a method of manufacturing edible molasses based products, including mixing liquid molasses with an edible particulate additive; dehydrating the mixture; cooling the dehydrated product so that it becomes brittle, and physically reducing the brittle

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product to the desired granular product form.

Preferably, when the product is used for human consumption, the edible particulate additive is an edible flour and in particular a non-rising flour. If desired carob or other sweeteners or edible matter may be added to the reduced product. Suitable additives which may be used include powdered or ground grains such as wheat, bran or rice. Other forms of additives such as peanut flour or ground peanut shells or grain husks or combinations of additive may also be used for the production of edible molasses products for animals. The edible particulate additive may incorporate a suitable sweetener if desired. It is also preferred that, in terms of weight, the particulate additive constitutes a minor portion of the additive/molasses mixture to be baked or dehydrated and preferably the mixture is in the ratio of 60%-80% by weight of molasses to 40%-20% by weight of additive. The product mixture is preferably mixed so that it has a density of between 1000 and 1500 kg/m3 but this may vary with different additives. The molasses and edible particulate additive may be mixed in a batch process or in a continuous mixing process and preferably the molasses is heated prior to mixing to make it free flowing. It is also preferred that the mixing be a batch process utilizing an auger type mixer. Suitably the molasses is heated to about 70 to 80 degrees celsius prior to dehydrating. Dehydrating may also be achieved in a batch or a continuous process with heat being supplied by any suitable heating medium. The dehydrating oven or ovens may be electrically heated or it may be gas or oil fired. Alternatively the oven or ovens may use microwave energy to dehydrate the molasses product. Dehydrating temperatures are carefully controlled to ensure that the product does not burn during dehydrating. Preferably the dehydrating temperature

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is between 150 and 300 degrees celsius and the dehydrating process continues for between four and eight minutes.

In the preferred embodiment, consistency of dehydrated product is provided by introducing the molasses and additive mixture onto the band of a moving band oven as a thin liquid or paste layer of mixed product. Preferably the product thickness is between two and eight millimetres and of any desired width. It is also desired that the product be dehydrated until it is in the form of a pliable biscuit like mixture which solidifies upon cooling into a brittle form such that it may be ground or otherwise physicaJly reduced into a granular form, such as a fine powder. Further additives may be combined with the granular mixture at this stage and prior to packaging. Preferably the product is ground in a hammer mill but of course any suitable form of pulverizing apparatus may be used to provide the powdered molasses product. For example the solidified product may be reduced in a mill or by a machining operation. The granular product may be bulk bagged in sealed plastic bags for commercial use as a sweetener or alternatively it may be packaged in individual sachets to provide sealed individual servings of the powdered molasses product for use as a sweetener on foods or in beverages. Suitably the sachets may be five gram sachets. The granular product may also be formed into tablets suitable for human consumption. If desired the powdered product could be packaged in resealable containers such as jars.

In one form of the invention a product suitable for human consumption is provided by mixing the molasses with stone ground wholemeal soya flour in the ratio of 10:3 by weight or otherwise as desired to suit the dehydrating requirements. This mixture is dehydrated and then ground to a powder which is introduced into further mixing apparatus such as a tumbler

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together with a flavour enhancer such as a sweetener. This may be of any desired form but preferably it is carob which is suitably combined with the product in the ratio of 10 : 3 : 1.75 being molasses, soya flour and carob weights respectively. The proportion of carob may be varied as desired such as between 1.25 and 5 in the above defined ratio. After mixing, the powdered product is ready for packaging. Wheat flour may be substituted for soya flour where a low fat content is required. According to a further aspect, this invention relates to processing apparatus including mixing means for mixing molasses with an edible flour; dehydrating apparatus in the form of a continuous band oven having an operating temperature of between 150 and 300 degrees celsius; control means, including air circulating means for maintaining a substantially constant temperature within said oven; cooling means for cooling product processed by said oven, and milling means for reducing the cooled product from said cooling means into a powder. In order that this invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a typical embodiment of this invention and wherein:-

FIG 1 is a diagramatic illustration of the molasses storage and supply assembly;

FTCf 2 is a side view of the s opI band ovon and cool or; FIG 3 is a plan view of the steel band oven, and FIG-4 is a diagramatic side view illustrating the milling apparatus. Referring to FIG 1 it will be seen that bulk molasses is stored in tanks 10 and 11 which are provided with heating coils 12 and 13 whereby hot water may be introduced from a hot water supply 9 to the coils 12 and 13 to elevate the

temperature of the molasses so that it become sufficiently free flowing for pumping purposes. For exampLo the temperature of the molasses may be held at between 70 and 80 degrees celsius. Suitable sensing means 14 may be provided to control the heating coils 12 and 13 so as to maintain the desired temperature in the- tanks 10 and 11.

A heated pump 15 pumps the free flowing molasses to a mixing assembly 16 in which the liquid molasses and the edible flour additive are measured and mixed thoroughly for supply to a depositor 17 for deposit in a thin layer onto a steel conveying band 18 of an oven assembly 19 so that it may be evenly baked during transit through the oven. The mixed product is dehydrated during passage through the oven 19, although not to a brittle state, whereupon it is discharged onto the wire mesh conveyer 20 of a cooling assembly 21 in which the dehydrated product is cooled until it becomes brittle. The product is then discharged into a milling assembly 22 in which the product is pulverized to a powder. As the product is very hygroscopic it is immediately fed into containers which may be sealed to prevent moisture intake which would ruin the powdered product. The mixing apparatus suitably combines approximately 900gm. of molasses with 270gm of flour to form a kilogram of product.

Accordingly the product may be bulk bagged into large plastic bags which may be sealed by any suitable welding process or the like. Alternatively the product may be fed into trays having a plurality of sachets or sachet size compartments of approximately teaspoon size or tablespoon Rise or the like and sealed into the sachets so that the product may be stored and used as required in individual servings .

The bulk powdered molasses may be sold with different types of additives for different markets. For this purpose a

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further additive hopper 23 is provided to feed sweetener or other additives into the milling assembly 22 for thorough mixing with the molasses product. Furthermore, the product may be sold in the form of pressed cakes for livestock or in blocks or as a powder.

Referring to FIGS 2 and 3 it will be seen that the steel band oven assembly 19 includes an elongate metal housing 30 through which the steel conveying band 18 passes. Suitably the conveying band 18 is about one metre wide and the oven is approximately twenty-five metres in length. In this embodiment the oven is heated by gas burners 31 and a recirculating fan assembly 32 is provided to maintain an even temperature throughout the oven and to substantially eliminate hot spots or maintain them within allowable limits. Dampers and controls 33 are provided above and below the conveyor band 18 to regulate the air discharge rate between the top and bottom of the oven 19 to ensure even dehydration. Exhaust fans 33 are provided near the downstream end of each oven section. In this respect it will be seen that the oven assembly 19 consists of three zones each having its own burner 31 complete with combustion air blower, recirculating air fan 32 and damper controls 33.

The oven 19 is provided with access doors 34 along the opposed side walls 35 so that good access can be provided into the interior of the oven for cleaning purposes. The oven is also provided with explosion relief panels 36 and viewing windows 37. These are associated with respective swiveling spotlights which may be externally controlled so that the dehydration process may be closely observed. The band 18 is provided with hot water cleansing means 38 which clean the band along its lower run. The cleaning apparatus 38 includes a high speed rotary brush 39 engaged with the return side of the conveying band 18 for cleaning the band

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18.

The steel conveying band 18 is preheated in use to about 170 to 180 degrees celsius and the product is extruded onto the band to form a strip approximately four millimetres thick and eight hundred and fifty millimetres wide. The band 18 runs continuously and a baking time of between seven and nine minutes is provided by the oven 19 which is heated to a temperature of 200 degrees celsius. Convection air is recirculated through the oven at a temperature of approximately 200 degrees celsius with forced convection at both the top and the bottom of the oven.

The oven 19 is located within a room which is ventilated and temperature controlled. The cooling assembly 21 is located within a separate room which is humidity controlled and in which the temperature is maintained at approximately twenty-five degrees celsius.

The cooling assembly 21 is provided with a conveying belt 20 formed of stainless steel mesh which is chain edged and onto which the dehydrated product is discharged. Cooling air is circulated through the cooler and the speed of movement of the conveying belt is such that it provides a cooling time of approximately five minutes, as the product passes through the cooler on the belt which is about fourteen metres long. A product breaker 43 is located at the downstream end of the cooling conveyor to break the brittle product into small pieces .

Manually adjustable variable speed drives are provided for the oven and the cooler to enable desired changes in dehydrating or cooling time to be easily varied. Suitable damper controls are provided on the ducting 40 and clean-out doors 41 are provided on opposite sides of the cooling chamber 42.

The mixing assembly 16 incorporates a flour loading hopper

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50 from which flour is delivered to a batching hopper and sifter 51 by a vacuum conveyor 52. A screw type conveyor 58 transports sifted flour to mixing apparatus 53 in which the flour is combined with molasses from a batching hopper 54 in metered quantities measured by weight. The mixing apparatus 53 incorporates a central impeller which rotates slowly to force the ingredients downwardly through a diffuser and for return to the impeller. When each batch has been mixed it is pumped by pump 55 to an intermediate storage hopper 56 and from there by pump 57 to the depositor 17.

The mi lling assembly 22 Is disposed remote from f o conditioned cooling room. It receives the broken-up product from a conveyor 60 which feeds the product into a miller 61. Simultaneously, an additive metering device 62 feeds the required additives, for example carob, into the miller 61.

The milled product then falls through a sizing screen 63 into a holding bin 64 from which it may be discharged through outlet 65 as required. The milling assembly is also located within a controlled atmosphere room to prevent moisture entering the powdered product before packaging.

It will of course be realised that the abovementioned temperatures, times and configurations are given only by way of illustrative example of a preferred embodiment of the invention, and it is to be understood that all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as is defined by the appended claims.

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