**8. References**


**5** 

*1Argentina 2Chile* 

**Predictive Control for the Grape Juice** 

Graciela Suarez Segali1 and Nelson Aros Oñate2 *1Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,* 

*2Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of La Frontera, Avda. Francisco Salazar, Temuco,* 

Concentrated clear grape juices are extensively used in the enological industry. Their use as constituents of juices, jellies, marmalades, jams, colas, beverages, etc., generates a consumer market with an increasing demand because they are natural products with an industrial

Argentina is one of the principal producers and exporters of concentrated clear grape juices in the world. They are produced mainly in the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan (Argentine Republic) from the virgin grape juice and in the most part from sulfited grape juices. The province of Mendoza's legislation establishes that a portion of the grapes must be used for making concentrated clear grape juices. This product has reached a high level of penetration in

An adequate manufacturing process, a correct design of the concentrate plants and an appropriate evaluation of their performance will facilitate optimization of the concentrated juices quality parameters (Pilati, 1998; Rubio, 1998). The plant efficiency is obtained from knowledge of the physics properties of the raw material and products (Moressi, 1984; Piva, 2008). These properties are fundamental parameters that are used in the designing and

The juices (concentrate and intermediate products) physical properties, such as density, viscosity, boiling point elevation, specific heat and coefficient of thermal expansion, are affected by their solid content and their temperature (Schwartz, 1986). For this reason, it is necessary to know the physical properties values, as a function of the temperature and the solids content, during the manufacture process, not just to obtain an excellent quality, but also to develop a data base, that is essential for optimizing the installation design and the transformation process itself. The principal solids constituents of clear grape juices are sugars (mostly glucose and fructose) and its concentration affects directly the density,

the export market and constitutes an important and growing productive alternative.

calculations on all the equipment used and also in the control process.

versatility that allows them to compete with other fruit juices.

**1. Introduction** 

viscosity and refraction index.

**Concentration Process** 

*National University of San Juan,* 

*Avda. Libertador San Martín, San Juan,* 

suspension system. *IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology,* Vol.14, No.4, (July 2006), pp.776-787, ISSN 1063-6536

