DISEÑO ÓPTIMO ECONÓMICO DE UNA PLANTA DE HARINA CON SECADO NEUMÁTICO DE PASTAS DE MANIHOT ESCULENTA CRANTZ.

Introduction: The decisive stage in technological, investment and energy demand for the production Manihot esculenta Crantz (cassava) flour, is their paste pneumatic drying. Objective: To optimize the design of a cassava flour production facility considering as optimization functions the profitability dynamic indicators and as independent variables the root treatment capacity and the drying gas temperature for an energetic combination using biogas and Cuban crude oil as drying agent. Materials and Methods: Appropriate technology was selected, adopting traditional schemes for the initial stages and designing equipment for pneumatic drying. The indicators net present value, internal rate of return and discounted payback period were modeled through a central compound experimental design, generating nine runs and determining the traditional economic indicators that allowed establishing the cash flows under the foreseen conditions. Regression models for dynamic profitability indicators were optimized by means of ridgeline analysis using response surface methodology. Results and Discussion: The optimum economic variant has a capacity of 13 242.6 troots/y, feeding a mixture of air and flue gases of biogas and Cuban crude oil at 113.34 °C to a pneumatic dryer with a duct of 30.42 m3. Conclusions: An adequate equilibrium between technical-economic, energetic and environmental factors is achieved under optimal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]