RESUMO
The effect of temperature and drying technologies on mucilage and cellulose (obtained by the microwave-assisted extraction technique, MAE) from Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) and Austrocylindropuntia cylindrica (CC) was determined using a conventional oven (CO) and Refractive Window (RW). Mathematical modeling was performed from drying kinetics data using the Lewis, Henderson-Pabis, Page, and Logarithmic models. Activation Energy (Ea) and Diffusivity (D) were also determined. The model with the best fit was the logarithmic one, with a correlation coefficient (R2) greater than 0.99. The obtained activation energies were 22.81 kJ mol-1 for Refractance window (RW) and 31.44 kJ mol-1 using conventional hot air drying (CO) while a diffusivity of 2.9 ∗10-8 m2 s-1 for RW and 1.3∗10-8 m2 s-1 for CO were found as well. According to our results, a greater drying efficiency and a less chemical deterioration of the plant sample are obtained by drying with Refractance window.