Desidratação osmotica e secagem convectiva de maçã : transferencia de massa e alterações de estrutura celular / Osmotic dehydrations and convective drying apple; : mass transfer and cellular structure changes

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

In this study it was investigated the osmotic dehydration of apples (Fuji variety) followed or not by convective drying with hot air. Concentration profiles were determined for water and solute(s) in samples of apples cut in half and osmotically dehydrated in binary aqueous solutions (30% and 50% sucrose, w/w) and ternary solution (50% sucrose and 10% sodium chloride, w/w) under vigorous stirring and constant temperature (27°C). The samples immersed in the osmotic solution for 2, 4 and 8 h were sliced from the exposed flat surface. The density and water, total and reducing sugars and sodium chloride contents were determined in each slice. The mathematical model that describes the transport of each species studied (water, sucrose and sodium chloride) is based on the continuity equation and on the of Fick´s diffusion law and considers the tissue shrinkage. The model was fitted to experimental data through the finite difference implicit method of Crank-Nicolson, to determine the effective diffusion coefficients as a function of concentration, using material coordinates and integrating simultaneously the differential equations of each component (water and sucrose or water, sucrose and sodium chloride). Light microscopy images of osmotically processed tissues previously pigmented with the vital dye neutral red, were obtained, varying the concentration of solutions and time of exposure. The photographic records show changes in cellular structure, which vary with the intensity of the dehydration process. The convective air drying was carried out on samples of apples cut in half, fresh and treated in aqueous solution of sucrose to 50% w/w for 4 hours (27°C). The moisture profiles were determined from the surface, after exposure of the flat face of half of the apples to the flow of hot air (60 ° C) during 3, 6, 10 and 24 hours of drying. The mathematical model that describes the water transport is based on the continuity equation, the Fick´s diffusion law, the tissue shrinkage and the nonhomogeneous initial concentration of the previously treated tissue. Similarly to the osmotic dehydration, the water diffusivity in drying was also determined in terms of concentration, using the finite difference implicit method of Crank-Nicolson and coordinated materials. It was possible to obtained a good fit of mathematical models to experimental data of osmotic dehydration and drying. The order of magnitude of the coefficients obtained for the osmotic dehydration was one or two times lower than diffusion coefficients of pure binary solutions of sucrose and sodium chloride. For drying, the behavior of diffusivity showed significant dependence with the concentration of water. The fresh tissue showed coefficients greater than the osmotically pre-treated tissue than it needs distinct functions for different times of drying (and less than 6 hours). The treated tissue showed a more stable behavior of the water diffusivity in the material and was described by a single function. This fact is related to the structural changes during drying, more severe for the fresh tissue than for the treated tissue

ASSUNTO(S)

diffusion coefficient secagem convectiva mass transfer osmotic dehydration coeficiente de difusão desidratação osmotica transferencia de massa convective drying

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

Documentos Relacionados