Nowadays, agglomerated citrus fruit flavored Tasty Saline functional powder drink represents a very appealing functional beverage for adult customers. It is produced by mixing basic ingredients (refined sucrose, refined common salt, encapsulated lemon flavor, dextrose anhydrous and potassium chloride) which were followed by agglomeration. Agglomeration is necessary, because non-agglomerated refined sucrose exhibit very poor flow and reconstitution properties. This research showed the influence of process conditions and composition of the different powder mixtures on the physical properties of the agglomerated final product. Agglomeration was conducted using batch fluid bed agglomerator at a constant air temperature (60℃), with a constant addition of citric acid with acid regulators with varying duration of the process and varying amount of added water. Bulk density and particle size were conducted prior to and post agglomeration, while agglomerate hardness was estimated by conducting a compression test with a 30 mm probe on Texture Analyzer. Percentage of added water had a significant effect on bulk density and the duration of the agglomeration process. This effect was more significant with mixtures made with salt. As for mixtures with 0.45 % to 0.55% encapsulated flavor, a significant influence of water addition on agglomerate median diameter was found. Agglomeration time and the percentage of added water showed dependence towards the composition of the mixture. This research showed that, in order to agglomerate powder mixtures successfully, parameters such as mixture composition, particle size, percentage of added water and acidulates, drying temperature, process duration and ambient conditions should be well coordinated and controlled to get agglomerates with optimal quality.
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