IMPLEMENTATION OF A JUÇARA SORBET MOBILE AGRO INDUSTRIAL UNIT AS AN ASSISTANCE TO THE PRÓ-JUÇARA PROGRAM

Juçara (Euterpe edulis, Mart.) Palm is a native species of the Atlantic Forest, vulnerable to extinction due to its commercial exploitation for palm heart extraction. To address this vulnerability, Pró-Juçara instituted FF Ordinance No. 327/21/2021, to promote repopulation actions, by seed commercialization and sustainable management of the fruit, instead of the palm heart. The fruit can be processed into a pulp with significant antioxidant activity and high nutritional value. However, strengthening the sustainable exploitation of juçara pulp by all the Program’s Conservation Units (CU) is an economic, social and structural challenge. Therefore, the objective of this project was to design a mobile processing unit by installing a juçara (sorbet) production line in a 40-foot container to benefit all the CU. The development of the industrial project was based on the definition of the required unit operations and the creation of a process flowchart, including the pre-processing of fruit into pulp and, subsequently, formulation and processing of the sorbet, using a semi-continuous flow process in accordance to ANVISA and ABNT standards. The SketchUp® software was employed to obtain the layout of the mobile container based agro-industrial facility. A list of modifications to be made to the container was prepared to ensure that the shipping container can operate as an agro-industrial unit in compliance with current health regulations, like Order SVS/MS No. 326/1997 and Directive RDC No. 275/2002. The internal dimensions of the container are 12.03 × 2.35 × 2.39 meters (length × width × height), allowing the installation of all the necessary processing equipment, from fruit reception to final product packaging. The development of the production layout demonstrated the technical feasibility of a mobile agro-industrial model to serve the CU, combining sustainable juçara processing with Atlantic Forest preservation.