Thermodynamic Analysis of Static Moisture Sorption Patterns by Ectocarpus Based on Its Hygroscopic Characteristics

Abstract

The most popular biopolymers in the food industry are polysaccharides, including sodium alginate (food additive E401) used as a thickener in the jelly, sauces and fillings production, as well as a moisture-retaining ingredient in bread, bakery products, etc.; and brown algae of marine nature (kelp and fucus) serve as its unique industrial source in modern conditions. Brown algae of the Caspian basin including Ectocarpus are rich of alginate. The research aim is to determine the hygroscopic parameters during moisture sorption by ectocarpus, and conduct their thermodynamic analysis to specify the energy consumption during drying and to identify its rational modes. The scientific analysis object was ectocarpus in native, dry and crushed form. The thesis exemplifies the empirical data on humidity and sorption isotherms for algal raw materials, equilibrium curves constructed in semi-logarithmic coordinates; studies the macrostructural layer tissue organization of brown algae raw materials recovered in an aqueous medium; determines the stages on sorption isotherms and the graphical dependence r = f (Wр). As a research result, a man determined the hygroscopic parameters of algal raw materials during moisture sorption, run a thermodynamic analysis of the obtained sorption isotherms to identify energy costs at various stages of drying, and revealed its rational modes, in which the final result of the drying operation is the production of a material with high biological value and the best parameters for its preservation.