Effect of drying methods on drying kinetics, energy features, thermophysical and microstructural properties of Stevia rebaudiana leaves.

BACKGROUND: Stevia leaves were subjected to convective hot-air, infrared and vacuum drying at 40, 60 and 80 °C, followed by an assessment of thermophysical properties and microstructure, along with drying kinetics modelling and evaluation of energy features for all drying operations. RESULTS: Effective moisture diffusivity (Deff ) showed dependency on temperature with values ranging from 1.08 × 10-12 to 7.43 × 10-12  m2  s-1 for convective drying, from 0.71 × 10-12 to 6.60 × 10-12  m2  s-1 for infrared drying, and from 1.29 × 10-12 to 5.39 × 10-12  m2  s-1 for vacuum drying. The thermal properties of the dried Stevia leaves under different drying conditions showed values of density, specific heat, thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and thermal effusivity ranging from 95.6 to 116.2 kg m-3 , 3050 to 3900 J kg-1  K-1 , 4.28 × 10-7 to 5.60 × 10-7  m2  s-1 , 0.16 to 0.23 W m-1  K-1 and 244 to 305 W s0.5  m-2  K-1 , respectively. As for microstructure, convective hot-air drying showed better preserved leaf characteristics, compared to infrared- and vacuum-drying, whereby scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image analysis also revealed noticeable differences at higher temperatures. Statistical analysis showed that the Midilli-Kuçuk model fitted best the experimental data of drying curves (0.961 < r2 < 0.999, 0.000064 < SSE < 0.005359, and 0.000074 < χ2 < 0.006278). Comparison of the drying methods with respect to energy features showed that convective drying at 80 °C led to lowest specific energy consumption (61.86 kW h kg-1 ) with highest efficiency (8.5%). CONCLUSION: The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the drying behaviour and showed that thermophysical properties of dried Stevia leaves and energy features are affected by drying methods. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Influence of drying temperature on dietary fibre, rehydration properties, texture and microstructure of Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.).

The effects of air drying temperature on dietary fibre, texture and microstructure of the Cape gooseberry fruits during convective dehydration in the range of 50-90 ºC were investigated. The ratio of insoluble dietary fibre to soluble dietary fibre was higher than 7:1 for all dehydrated samples. At 50 ºC tissue structure damage was evidenced leading to the maximum water holding capacity (47.4 ± 2.8 g retained water/100 g water) and the lowest rehydration ratio (1.15 ± 0.06 g absorbed water/g d.m.). Texture analysis showed effects of drying temperatures on TPA parameters. Changes in microstructure tissue were also observed at the studied drying temperatures. Hot air drying technology leads not only to fruit preservation but also increases and adds value to Cape gooseberry, an asset to develop new functional products.

Influence of process temperature on drying kinetics, physicochemical properties and antioxidant capacity of the olive-waste cake.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of drying temperature on the drying kinetics, proximal analysis, energy consumption and the antioxidant capacity of the olive-waste cake "Picual" variety from 40 to 90°C. Evaluation of proximal analysis evidenced the influence of temperature on the waste parameters. Values of effective moisture coefficients were in the range of 1.97-6.05 × 10(-9)m(2)s(-1) under the studied conditions. Activation energy was found to be 28.24 kJ mol(-1). The Weibull model was successfully applied (r(2)>0.973). Specific energy consumption decreased as temperature increased, showing the effect of drying times over temperature. Although dehydrated samples decreased the initial total phenolic content, significant differences were not detected. Effects of drying temperatures did not present significant differences on antioxidant capacity (ORAC and DPPH) when compared to fresh samples. The oleic acid (main fatty acid in fresh samples) presented a maximum increased at 90°C.

Effect of temperature and air velocity on drying kinetics, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, colour, texture and microstructure of apple (var. Granny Smith) slices.

The aim of this work was to study the effect of temperature and air velocity on the drying kinetics and quality attributes of apple (var. Granny Smith) slices during drying. Experiments were conducted at 40, 60 and 80°C, as well as at air velocities of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5ms(-1). Effective moisture diffusivity increased with temperature and air velocity, reaching a value of 15.30×10(-9)m(2)s(-1) at maximum temperature and air velocity under study. The rehydration ratio changed with varying both air velocity and temperature indicating tissue damage due to processing. The colour difference, ΔE, showed the best results at 80°C. The DPPH-radical scavenging activity at 40°C and 0.5ms(-1) showed the highest antioxidant activity, closest to that of the fresh sample. Although ΔE decreased with temperature, antioxidant activity barely varied and even increased at high air velocities, revealing an antioxidant capacity of the browning products. The total phenolics decreased with temperature, but at high air velocity retardation of thermal degradation was observed. Firmness was also determined and explained using glass transition concept and microstructure analysis.

Mathematical modeling of convective air drying of quinoa-supplemented feed for laboratory rats

Drying kinetics of quinoa-supplemented feed for laboratory rats during processing at 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90ºC was studied and modeled in this work. Desorption isotherm was obtained at 60ºC giving a monolayer moisture content of 0.04 g water/g d.m. The experimental drying curves showed that drying process took place only in the falling rate period. Several thin-layer drying equations available in the literature were evaluated based on determination coefficient (r²), sum squared errors (SSE) and Chi-square (χ2) statisticals. In comparison to the experimental moisture values, the values estimated with the Logarithmic model gave the best fit quality (r² >0.994, SSE < 0.00015 and χ2 < 0.00018), showing this equation could predict very accurately the drying time of rat feed under the operative conditions applied.

Effective moisture diffusivity determination and mathematical modelling of the drying curves of the olive-waste cake.

Olive cake is an important agro industrial by-product with the dried cake being the input material of many applications areas. In this research, the drying kinetics of olive cake during convective dehydration at five temperatures (50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 degrees C) was investigated. Several empirical mathematical models were selected to describe experimental drying kinetics data, namely, Page, Modified Page, Henderson and Pabis, Modified Henderson and Pabis, Two-Terms, Logarithmic and Weibull. Air temperature showed a significant effect on drying rates. Based on the statistical tests results (sum squared errors, chi-square and correlation coefficients), the Modified Henderson and Pabis equation is the most suitable model to describe the experimental drying curves. Effective moisture diffusivity of olive cake was in the range of 2.03x10(-9)-1.71x10(-9) m(2) s(-1). An activation energy value of 12.43 kJ mol(-1) was determined. The findings allow the successful simulation of olive cake drying between 50 and 90 degrees C.