Development of Equations for Estimating Energy Requirements in Processing Local Alcoholic Beverage (Burukutu) In Nigeria

Determination of the energy consumption in the processing of local alcoholic beverage, burukutu in selected commercially viable six (6) local government areas in Benue state of Nigeria was conducted. Eighteen cases were randomly investigated within these locations. Mathematical expression was developed to evaluate the energy requirement for each of the seven (7) readily defined unit operations, namely steeping (St), grinding (Gr), washing (W), mashing (M), filtering (Fl), boiling (B) and re-filtering (Re-Fl). The equations were exploited to compute energy expenditure in the production using measured input data. Empirical equation was developed for each unit operation to relate energy requirement to red sorghum input in kg. The application test of the equations indicated that about 3122.90MJ was averagely needed to process about 150 kg of red sorghum in each location while energy requirement for each unit operation in each location was also estimated. Results showed no significant difference at 95% confidence level of the energy requirements for the 18 cases studied with respect to the identified unit process of