Integrated studies of soybean seeds as an object of production of protein-containing products

Today, soybean seeds are one of the leading oilseed crops in the global market. As a rule, soybean seeds account for more than a half of the market for the turnover of all oilseeds. This is due to a number of reasons such as: favourable agronomic performance, the protein meal intended for use as feeds being of high quality; soy fat foods being also of superior quality. Soy proteins have a large number of applications, because they are characterized by functional properties necessary for combined foods and lower cost compared to alternative additives of animal origin. An important functional property of proteins is thermoplasticity, i. e. the ability to re-solidify or melt depending on temperature. The amount of protein meal that can be obtained per unit of cultivated area is 2 t/ha which is much higher than that of other oilseed crops. Drying, heat treatment of soybean seeds make it urgent to study soybean properties and to make further use of the obtained data for developing drying units, mathematical modelling of soybean seeds drying processes, as well as for developing methods of the process control. Thermogravimetric analysis was performed as part of laboratory studies of soybean seeds of 'Annushka' variety was carried out, which made it possible to determine the temperature zones corresponding to the forms and energy of moisture binding to the material. The thermophysical and electrophysical characteristics of soybean seeds were determined by the method of non-stationary thermal regime. The nature of the dependence of the coefficients of thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity on the temperature and moisture was established. The equations were obtained that describe the thermophysical and electrophysical characteristics of seeds at the moisture content in the range of 12-20 %, at the temperature range of 20-100 °С.