Effective Diffusion Coefficients during Osmotic Dehydration of Vegetables with Different Initial Porosity

Abstract

Chesnut and pumpkin fruits were dehydrated with osmotic solutions of sucrose and NaCl at 25°C. These food materials have different structure, composition and porosity. Water loss and solids gain kinetics were experimentally determined and modeled using a diffusional model. In spite of the several mass transfer mechanisms taking place along with diffusion during osmotic dehydration, the modeling was satisfactory and involved effective coefficients of diffusion useful to quantify the different mass transfer fluxes. Water and sucrose transfer rates during osmotic dehydration with sucrose solutions are independent on the initial food material characteristics; however they seem to be related with the permeability of these components to a sucrose layer formed in the surface of the samples. In the case of osmotic dehydration with sodium chloride solutions, the coefficients of diffusion show a dependence on food material characteristic and higher values of these coefficients for pumpkin (more porous material) were found.