A MODEL FOR DIFFUSION OF SODIUM IN GREEN OLIVES AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES AND LYE CONCENTRATIONS

M. B. MALDONADO; C.A. ZURITZ

JOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING

Food & Nutrition Press Inc.

Lugar: Connecticut - USA; Año: 2003 vol. 26 p. 339 - 356

0145-8876

A diffusion model for a composite flat plate, consisting of a thin skin of thickness d, and a thicker flesh of thickness L, with constant flesh and skin effective diffusion coefficients (DF and DS) was successfully adjusted to the experimental data obtained during the debittering of green olives variety Arauco at 15ºC, 20ºC and 25ºC and lye concentrations of 1.50%, 2.25% and 3.00% of NaOH. The DF values ranged between 1.64x10-10 and 9.20x10-10 m2/s, and increased with increasing temperature and lye concentration. The DS values ranged between 1.72x10-12 and 8.71x10-12 m2/s, and also increased with increasing lye concentration and temperature. Activation Energies (Ea) of diffusion in the flesh and the skin were evaluated with an Arrhenius-type relationship. The Ea values for the flesh were 93.2, 72.7 and 64.8 kJ/mol,  and 89.7, 82.9 and 49.1 for the skin respectively for lye concentrations of 1.50%, 2.25% and 3.00%.