Introduction:

Soy yoghurt production capacity depends on the processing capacity of industrial cultivation, being one of the fundamental stages, where time and temperature exert a direct influence on acidification.

Objective:

To evaluate the alternative of increasing the processing capacity of the industrial culture, from the experimental study and scaling of the fermentation operation, to increase the production of soy yogurt at Pasteurizer Santa Clara.

Materials and Methods:

The behavior of acidification in lactose fermentation was evaluated considering the effect of time and temperature, and a model relating these variables was obtained. Additionally, the installed fermentation conditions were scaled up, with the heat transfer requirements according to the experimental study, and the economic analysis of the proposal was performed.

Results and Discussion:

The required acidity was obtained at 8 h after the incubation time with a temperature control at 6 ºC, where the adjusted model showed a determination coefficient of 95.15 %. In turn, maintaining constant velocity at the impeller tip was selected as the most successful scaling criterion, ensuring geometrical and biochemical similarities in a working volume of 2 m3. These conditions yielded a payback period of less than 2 years.

Conclusions:

Scaling up the processing of the industrial culture introduces an increase in the annual production value, with encouraging economic indicators of profitability.

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