Teknik Granulasi Dalam Pemanfataan Debu Teh Pada Produksi Teh Celup di PT Unilever Tbk Pabrik Tea Based Beverages Cikarang - Bekasi

Abstract

Tea dust is one of the solid waste generated during manufacturing of tea bags in the Tea Based Beverage Factory, PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk, Cikarang - Bekasi. The amount of tea dust that is separated by dust collector at the tea factory is up to 500 kg per week. The tea dust could not be used in the tea bags production because of its particle size and light mass, so after separation by dust collector if then blended into the tea will affect the appearance and quality of the tea..This waste caused the factory loss its profit about 7 million rupiah per week. A process technique of granulation was used for tea dust to increase both the particle size and the mass. The granule form of the tea dust ensured that it could not be separated again by the dust collector after it was blended into the tea. Equipments such as cold extruder or fluidized bed granulator were used to form the granules and fluidized beddryer to dry the granules. After tea granules successfully formed, then it was mixed by blending the tea and filled it into a tea bag with a composition of 99.5% tea and 0.5% tea dust granules. Various kinds of test conducted to examine if the granulated tea dust would affect the quality of the tea bag, and the results showed that the granule was not affecting the quality of the tea bag based on the standard set by Unilever.