Combined Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) and Vacuum Freeze Drying of Sea Cucumber

A combination of electrohydrodynamic drying (EHD) and vacuum freeze drying (FD) is examined as an improved method for dehydrating sea cucumbers. The energy consumption, shrinkage and rehydration ratio, protein content, and sensory properties, such as the color and trimness, of the dried product in the EHD–FD method are measured. Compared with FD, the combined process consumes less drying time and has lower energy consumption than EHD drying alone. Also, the product processed by combined drying displays lower shrinkage, higher rehydration rate and higher protein content, along with better sensory qualities.     

Quality evaluation of pineapple fruit during drying process

Pineapple (Anana comosus) slices were dried by hot-air convective drying technique at fixed temperature (45, 60 and 75 °C) and constant air velocity of 1.5 m/s. The effect of drying conditions (drying time and air temperature) on the pineapple quality was evaluated. The quality of dehydrated pineapple was analyzed by color and texture changes, l-ascorbic acid loss and the ability of water uptake during rehydration procedure. Water uptake during rehydration was described by Page model. Statistical analysis of data revealed not significant difference (p > 0.05) among color and mechanical characteristics of pineapple samples dried at different drying temperatures to preset moisture content. Pineapple samples dried at 45 °C had better rehydration ability and more l-ascorbic acid retention than those obtained by air drying 75 °C. Hence, 45 °C drying temperature was best condition for pineapple quality preservation.     

The energy consumption and color analysis of freeze/microwave freeze banana chips

This study investigated the energy consumption of preparing banana chips by freeze drying (FD) and microwave freeze drying (MFD) methods. The results in this study showed that the energy consumption for 400 g fresh banana (about 95 g dried samples) by FD process and MFD process are about 35.73 × 10⁶ J (9.92 kW h) and 21.76 × 10⁶ J (6.57 kW h), respectively. Compared to the traditional FD process, MFD can save up to 35.7% energy and 40% drying time. Increasing the heating power in the secondary drying stage of MFD process had been confirmed to result in decrease in both the energy consumption and drying time. After increasing the microwave power in the secondary drying stage from 1.0 W/g to 1.5 W/g in MFD process, total energy consumption is about 18.12 × 10⁶ J (5.56 kW h) and drying time can be reduced from 360 min to 270 min. The sensory evaluation of produced banana chips at different drying conditions (1.0 W/g, 1.5 W/g and 2.0 W/g) revealed that the sensory properties are acceptable by the customers except the 2 W/g microwave power dried product. Thus, the method that increased the heating powder in the secondary drying stage of the MFD process could potentially be an effective method to reduce the energy consumption without seriously sacrificing the color of the end product.     

Infrared assisted dry-blanching and hybrid drying of carrot

Infrared (IR) blanching and IR assisted hot air (hybrid) drying of carrot slices were attempted and their performance (processing time, retention of vitamin C and rehydration characteristics) was compared with conventional blanching and drying techniques. Intermittent heating of carrot slices using IR radiation (chamber maintained at 180–240 °C) for 8–15 min resulted in desired level of enzyme inactivation. The time required for blanching of carrot slices (10 mm thick) using hot water, steam and IR radiation was 5, 3 and 15 min, respectively. Retention of water soluble vitamin C was higher (62%) in IR blanched carrot as compared to water (43%) and steam (49%) blanching. IR blanching reduced the moisture content by 13–23% (absolute). IR blanched samples dried by hybrid mode took ～45% lesser time compared to water blanched–hot air dried samples. Higher rehydration moisture of dried samples indicated the retention of cell structure during IR blanching. Vitamin C retention was ～39% higher in IR blanched–hybrid dried slices compared to water blanched–hot air dried. The study shows the potential application of dry-blanching and IR assisted hybrid drying in food processing for improving product quality.     

Modelling of dehydration–rehydration of instant rice in combined microwave-hot air drying

The drying operation is one of the critical steps in the preparation of instant rice. Drying methods and conditions play important roles in achieving the desired quality. In this study, instant rice was subjected to convective hot air, microwave and combined microwave-hot air dehydration. Three air temperature (70 °C, 80 °C, 90 °C) and three microwave power (210 W, 300 W, 560 W) settings were investigated to find the drying kinetics, rehydration kinetics and colour change. The results showed that combined microwave-hot air drying decreased the drying time required when compared to drying with either hot air or microwave energy alone. Predictive models were developed to describe dehydration and rehydration kinetics. Dehydration rate, rehydration rate and total colour change of rehydrated product generally increased with microwave level and air temperature. Combination drying with MW = 300 W and T = 80 °C was optimal in terms of drying time, rehydration time and colour.     

Studies on Decreasing Energy Consumption for a Freeze-Drying Process of Apple Slices

The shape, color, flavor, and rehydration capacity of freeze-dried (FD) products are all better than other dried products. However, the energy consumption during FD is very high, which limits the application of this drying method for common materials. In this article, microwave vacuum drying (MWVD) was applied before or after FD to decrease the energy consumption during FD. Moreover, energy consumption was divided into two parts: valid and invalid energy consumption. Apple slices were used as an example to calculate the saving percentage of invalid energy consumption by comparing combination drying with FD. Apple slices freeze dried for 8.28 h first and then dried by MWVD have the best appearance, with a savings of 39.20% in invalid energy consumption. But apple slices freeze dried for 6 h first followed by MWVD have the highest savings of invalid energy consumption, 54.02%, while still maintaining an acceptable appearance.     

Effects of ultrasound on glass transition temperature of freeze-dried pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) using DMA thermal analysis

The effect of ultrasound pretreatment at various power (360 W, 600 W and 960 W, frequency 20 kHz) on the glass transition temperature of freeze dried pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) has been studied. DMA temperature plots were divided into four sections (A – glassy region, B – transition region, C – Rubbery plateau region and D – terminal region) with the aim to analyze their properties changed with sonication. Under the same freeze drying condition, with the increase in ultrasonic power, dried pear showed higher glass transition in terms of storage modulus, loss modulus and loss tangent peak. Also a decrease in a_w (0.31–0.23) and in moisture content (0.12–0.08 g/g d.b.) has been observed. Samples pretreated with ultrasound showed a better texture profile and much porous structure compared to control one. The results from the study indicated that, ultrasound pretreatment prior to freeze drying can improve the stability during storage of freeze dried pear.     

Effect of infrared pretreatment on low-humidity air drying of apple slices

The dried apple is used in the preparation of weaning foods and bakery products. The current drying processes, especially hot air (HA) drying, still face the problem of longer processing time and product quality degradation. The low-humidity air (LHA) drying can be an option to retain product quality in heat-sensitive food such as apple. The present work focuses on the effect of pretreatment of apple slices with potassium metabisulfite and infrared (IR) waves on drying characteristics when subjected to LHA drying and comparing the product quality with conventional hot air and freeze drying (FD). Pretreatment with IR waves reduced the drying time by nearly 23 and 17% in LHA and HA drying, respectively. The results indicated that IR-treated and LHA-dried slices retained nearly 82–90 and 72–74% of ascorbic acid and total phenolic content, respectively and was comparable to FD slices. The drying time for LHA was nearly 37% lesser than that for HA drying. LHA-dried apple slices had better color and rehydration ratio compared to FD- and HA-dried slices.     

Continuous real-time monitoring and neural network modeling of apple slices color changes during hot air drying

A hot air drying system equipped with real-time computer vision system was used to investigate the effects of drying variables on apple slices color changes. Drying experiments were conducted at drying air temperatures of 50–70 °C, drying air velocities of 1–2 m/s, and samples thicknesses of 2–6 mm. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network (ANN) was also used to correlate color parameters and moisture content of apple slices with drying variables and drying time. The effects of drying air temperature and sample thickness on color changes were dominated over the effect of drying air velocity. However, non-linear and somewhat complex trends were obtained for all color parameters as function of moisture content. The MLP ANN satisfactorily approximated the color and moisture variations of apple slices with correlation coefficient higher than 0.92. Therefore, the computer vision system supplemented with ANN can be used as a non-invasive, low cost, and easy method for fast and in-line assessing and controlling of foodstuffs color and moisture changes during drying.     

Rehydration and Sensory Properties of Dehydrated Russet Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) Using Microwave Vacuum,Heated Air,or Freeze Dehydration

Russet potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) dehydrated by microwave-vacuum (MVD), heated air (HAD), and freeze drying (FD) were compared by measuring color, texture, rehydration properties, and sensory properties. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images were taken to observe cell damage in the dried potatoes. The MVD potatoes remained intact following rehydration and retained suitable textural and color properties based upon sensory evaluation. The FD potatoes became friable and lost color. Sensory panelists preferred MVD, FD, and HAD in that order. MVD can provide consumers with a dehydrated product that has characteristics similar to or better than those dried by HAD or FD.     

A comparative study of drying methods on physical characteristics,nutritional properties and antioxidant capacity of broccoli

Abstract

Broccoli is considered one of the attractive raw materials for dehydrated vegetables owing to its high nutritional value. However, information about how drying methods affect the physicochemical and nutritional properties of broccoli is limited. In this study, broccoli pieces were subjected to freeze drying (FD), hot air drying (HAD), microwave vacuum drying (MVD), vacuum drying (VD), MVD combined with HAD (MVD?+?HAD), and MVD combined with VD (MVD?+?VD). Quality attributes of dehydrated broccolis were contrasted in terms of color, texture, volume shrinkage, nutritional components, antioxidant activity, and rehydration capacity. Results demonstrated that FD better preserved the nutrients while HAD displayed the worst effect. The combination of MVD?+?HAD and MVD?+?VD resulted in higher retention of nutritional compositions, better antioxidant activity, and lower energy consumption than that of HAD. Furthermore, combined drying processing exhibited similar rehydration capacity but lower hardness compared to that of HAD.     

Effect of drying methods on volatiles of Chinese ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)

Fresh ginger slices were dehydrated by air drying (AD), microwave drying (MD), vacuum drying (VD), and freezing drying (FD). Volatiles were extracted from fresh ginger pulp and dried ground ginger powder with solid-phase microextraction (SPME), and identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Results indicated that, 19, 28, 21, 20, 31 and 20 novel compounds (70 in total) appeared in dried gingers treated by AD at 50, 60 and 70 °C, MD at 60 W, VD in 13.3 kPa at 60 °C and FD in 0.203 kPa at chamber temperature of 22 °C, respectively. Principal component analysis for the main volatiles indicated that drying increased the relative contents of benzene,1-(1,5-dimethyl-4-hexenyl)-4-methyl-, 1,3-cyclohexadiene,5-(1,5-dimethyl-4-hexenyl)-2-methyl-,[S-(R*,S*)]-, α-farnesene and cyclohexene,3-(1,5-dimethyl-4-hexenyl) -6-methylene-,[S-(R*,S*)]- while decreased those of 2,6-octadienal,3,7-dimethyl-,(Z) and 2,6-octadienal,3,7-dimethyl-. Cluster analysis disclosed that MD was the most favorite drying way, followed by AD at 60 °C, VD, FD, and AD at 50 and 70 °C.     

Drying characteristics of Shiitake mushroom and Jinda chili during vacuum heat pump drying

Drying characteristics of the Shiitake mushroom and Jinda chili, a commonly grown variety in the Northeast of Thailand, was investigated under varying conditions of the drying temperatures (50, 55, 60 and 65 °C) and the vacuum pressures (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 bar) in a new design of a vacuum heat pump dryer. Nine different thin layer mathematical drying models were compared according to their correlation coefficient, reduced chi-square and root mean square error to estimate vacuum heat pump drying curves. The result indicates that the Midilli model can present better predictions than the others. The constants and coefficients of this model could be explained by the effect of the drying temperature and the drying pressure. The drying temperature and pressure significantly affects color degradation (probability P < 0.05). Drying temperature has little effects on rehydration capacity (probability P > 0.05). Rehydration capacity notably decreases with an increase in the vacuum pressure.     

Effect of combined infrared freeze drying and microwave vacuum drying on quality of kale yoghurt melts

Abstract

Kale yoghurt melts are proposed as a novel snack that can melt in the mouth. However, such melts with thin fresh pulp were difficult to shape when drying at elevated temperature. In order to obtain a desirable shape and high-quality snack, freeze drying (FD), infrared freeze drying (IRFD), and combination of infrared freeze drying and microwave vacuum drying (IRFD-MVD) were attempted. The effects of these drying techniques on the drying time, energy consumption, bulk density, rehydration time, texture, color, chlorophylls, carotenoids and total phenolics contents as well as antioxidant activity and sensory characteristics of the differently dried products were compared. Nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance image analyses were also conducted to illustrate the state and proportion of water during the IRFD process. Drying time of IRFD was noted to be significantly shorter than that of FD. IRFD-MVD could further save the time as well as energy consumption of drying and, when properly conducted, could maintain the quality of snacks.     

The influence of drying air temperature on the physical properties of dried and rehydrated eggplant

Drying processes generally cause volume and surface change of foodstuffs. Information on the porous structure and the mechanical properties of dried food products is needed for determining food quality, process design and estimating properties such as density and moisture diffusivity.In this work we investigated the structural changes induced in eggplant by convective air drying at four different temperatures (40, 50, 60 and 70 °C) and their effect on the subsequent rehydration process. Drying and rehydration kinetic curves were also measured.The changes in physical properties, such as porosity, pore-size distribution and bulk density were determined by Hg porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy while their effect on the textural characteristics by dynamometric measurements.As expected, the increase of the drying air temperature causes shorter drying times. The drying temperature influences strongly the microstructure of dried samples: the porosity increases with the air temperature, but the structure is better preserved at intermediate temperature (60 °C) as confirmed by the lower firmness values with respect to the other dehydrated samples (40, 50 and 70 °C). In these latter, the longer drying time and the higher temperature, respectively, causes the development of a wrinkled structure. In particular, at 70 °C the structure of dehydrated samples appears totally broken with a consequent faster water uptake during rehydration.     

Usage of solar-assisted spouted bed drier in drying of pea

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of solar-assisted spouted bed and open sun drying on the drying rate and quality parameters of pea. Color, shrinkage, bulk and apparent densities, internal and bulk porosities, rehydration capacity and microstructure were the quality parameters investigated in dried product.Drying rate for solar-assisted spouted bed was about 3.5 times of drying rate for open sun drying. Air temperature changed between 20 °C and 27.4 °C during open sun drying while temperature of air at the inlet of solar-assisted spouted bed dryer varied between 35.3 °C and 65.5 °C during the experiments. Effective diffusivities were found to be 0.64 × 10^?10 and 3.27 × 10^?10 m²/s for open sun and solar-assisted spouted bed drying of pea, respectively. In color analysis, it was observed that a* value increased while b* value decreased for both drying methods. Bulk density and apparent density of peas dried under open sun was higher than that in solar-assisted spouted bed drier. In both drying methods, internal and bulk porosities decreased. Shrinkage was more for open sun dried samples. Rehydration capacity for solar-assisted spouted bed dried sample was higher than the one for open sun dried.     

Combined Microwave-Vacuum and Freeze Drying of Carrot and Apple Chips

A combination of microwave-vacuum (MWV) drying and freeze drying was investigated as potential means for drying carrot and apple chips. The sample was first dried by microwave-vacuum to dehydrate some amount of internal free water and then by freeze drying to a final moisture content of less than 7% (wet basis). Chemical properties (carotene and vitamin C retention) and physical properties (shrinkage, color, texture, and rehydration ratio) of carrot and apple slices dried by this method were evaluated and compared with those dried by freeze drying alone, MWV drying alone, and conventional hot air drying, respectively. The comparison showed that the carotene retention of carrot slices and the vitamin C retention of apple slices dried by the current method were close to those of freeze-dried carrot and apple slices and much better than those of conventional hot air–dried ones. The samples prepared by the current method exhibited very close rehydration capacity, color retention, and texture with those of the freeze-dried ones but with a little higher shrinkage. However, the samples still showed the attractive external appearance without marked warp.     

Spouted bed and microwave-assisted spouted bed drying of parboiled wheat

The effect of spouted bed and microwave-assisted spouted bed drying on drying rates of parboiled wheat was investigated. In addition, the effective moisture diffusivities of parboiled wheat were calculated. The drying experiments were performed using 200 g of parboiled wheat, at three different air temperatures (50, 70, 90 °C) and at two different microwave powers (3.5 W/g (db), 7.5 W/g (db)). Microwave-assisted spouted bed drying at microwave power of 3.5 W/g and 7.5 W/g reduced drying time by at least 60% and 85%, respectively compared to spouted bed drying. The effective diffusivity values were in the range of 1.44 × 10^?10–3.32 × 10^?10 in spouted bed drying while they were between 5.06 × 10^?10 and 11.3 × 10^?10 in microwave-assisted spouted bed drying at different experimental conditions.     

Effect of homogenization parameters on selected physical properties of lemon aroma powder

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between homogenization parameters of lemon aroma emulsion and selected physical properties of obtained powders. Emulsion was prepared in a high shear homogenizer (10 min, 24,000 rpm) or a two-stage pressure homogenizer (30_10 or 60_20 MPa). A 30% emulsion of maltodextrin and Arabic gum in the ratio 7:1 by mass in water and aroma was prepared. The addition of lemon aroma was 2, 6 and 10% (w/w). It was found that in emulsions an increase of aroma addition caused an increase in diameter from 2.4 to 4 μm for Ultra Turrax high shear homogenization and did not change the diameter size for pressure homogenization. For pressure homogenization similar viscosity values were observed. A different effect was observed for high shear homogenization (31–40 mPa s). Increase in aroma addition caused an increase in viscosity. Moreover, a similar diameter of the aroma phase after reconstitution of emulsion from powder (0.7–1.3 μm) was observed. In powders with an increasing amount of aroma, regardless of homogenization method, an increase in porosity, spread of particle size and total colour differences and also a decrease in loose bulk density, solubility and lightness were observed. The lowest apparent density of powders was found for an emulsion containing 6% aroma. The shape of powder particles did not differ from themselves.     

Effect of Processing Conditions on Drying Kinetics and Particle Microstructure of Carrot

The drying of carrot particles (6 mm × 6 mm × 12 mm) was studied in a tunnel dryer; a vacuum-freeze dryer, either with or without infrared radiation; a pulsed fluidized-bed dryer assisted by microwave radiation; and combinations of these methods. The effect of two freezing rates (quick freezing in liquid nitrogen and slow freezing in a household freezer) was also studied.

The drying kinetics for these drying methods were determined and modeled, and the dried products were subjected to texture (hardness), color, and rehydration analysis, as well as 2D and 3D image analysis of pictures from scanning electron microscope.

The combination of freeze drying with other dehydration techniques reduces the drying time by 6–70%, although, in general, the structural damage increases with respect to freeze drying alone. The hybrid drying systems did not show significant differences in drying times either for quick- or slow-frozen samples. The combination of freeze drying followed by conventional drying reduces the drying time between 23 and 40% on average.

The Page empirical model represents adequately the entire drying process for combined methods, with specific parameters for each drying zone. The values of effective diffusivity calculated with the simplified constant diffusivity model agree with those reported in the literature.