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Encapsulation has great potential for preserving the flavour and health benefits of bioactive compounds. Hence, in the previous study, an attempt was made to encapsulate peppermint flavour in a gum arabic (GA) shell. To further understand the effect of a wide range of parameters, in the present study, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are developed. To predict the effect of various parameters on the encapsulation process, networks are developed with a back‐propagation algorithm. Input parameters for the ANN are flavour concentration, GA concentration, spray dryer temperature and feed flow rate to the spray dryer. The encapsulation process is evaluated in terms of encapsulation efficiency, product yield, and particle size. To predict all outputs simultaneously, a combined model is developed. The results showed that the combined model has similar accuracy as that of the individual model and also helps to save on processing time. For the combined model, the best prediction performance is obtained with 5‐4‐3 ANN architecture exhibiting an R2 value of 0.9991, and corresponding MSE values of 0.000 54, 0.000 63, and 0.000 61 for encapsulation efficiency, product yield, and particle size, respectively. This indicates that the developed ANN model is capable of predicting the encapsulation process. The interpolation and extrapolation ability of the developed network is also evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel tubular flow reactor where a straight tube is modified by pinching it periodically at a fixed pitch and at different angles is presented. Pinched tubes (straight tube as well as helical coils) with different pitch and angles between successive pinching are studied. This work reports a detailed hydrodynamic study involving single and two-phase flow. Mixing experiments showed that having an angle of 90° between successive pinchs achieves the shortest mixing length when compared to lower angles. Pressure recovery along with sequence of high and low shear zones and change of flow direction imposed better mixing. Residence time distribution studies showed that higher number of pinch sections decreases the extent of dispersion, yet it deviates from plug flow. The performance is evaluated by carrying a homogeneous and two-phase aromatic nitration and also liquid-liquid extraction. Pinched tube presents an economical option as a flow reactor for conducting exothermic reactions. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 358-365, 2017 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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