Analysis of operating conditions on osmotic dehydration of plums (Prunus domestica L.) and 3D-numerical determination of effective diffusion coefficients

L.A. CAMPAÑONE; J.R. ARBALLO; J.R. ARBALLO; M.M. RODRÍGUEZ; R.H. MASCHERONI; M.M. RODRÍGUEZ; R.H. MASCHERONI; L.A. CAMPAÑONE

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD ENGINEERING

BERKELEY ELECTRONIC PRESS

Año: 2017 vol. 13

2194-5764

The objective of this work was to analyze the relevant process conditions on osmotic dehydration of plums and to determine the diffusion coefficients related to this process. The influence of solution (type and concentration of solute, temperature, fruit/solution ratio) and process time on water loss, water content and solutes gain were studied. Process analysis was performed experimentally by means of a set of 16 duplicate tests and numerically by mathematical modeling of the unsteady state mass transfer during osmotic dehydration. Experiments were carried out with glucose and sorbitol (40 and 60% w/w) solutions, dehydrating plum pieces during 2 h at temperatures of 25 and 40ºC, with fruit/solution ratios of 1/4 and 1/10. For calculating effective diffusion coefficients, the real shape of food pieces was considered using Finite Elements Method, working with the software COMSOL Multiphysics. Calculated diffusion coefficients ranged from 1.38x10-09 to 4.19x10-09 m2 s-1 and 0.58x10-09 to 3.55x10-09 m2 s-1, for water and solutes, respectively.