On the investigation into the kinetics of the ultrasound-assisted atmospheric freeze drying of eggplant

Atmospheric freeze drying is a highly attractive process for the dehydration of thermosensitive products, like food, due to the fact that water is removed at low temperature by sublimation. Unfortunately, drying times can be very long because of the internal resistance of the product to vapor diffusion: power ultrasound can be an effective means of accelerating the process, thus reducing the operating cost. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of air temperature and velocity, ultrasound power and sample size on the drying kinetics of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) samples and, afterward, to analyze in silico an industrial process. Experiments were performed under various conditions regarding air temperature (?5, ?7.5, ?10°C), velocity (2 and 5?m?s^?1), power ultrasound (0, 10.3, 20.5?kW?m^?3, 21.9?kHz), and sample size. Drying rate was measured experimentally. The air velocity showed no relevant effects on the drying kinetics, and the effect of air temperature was slight when compared to the marked reduction in the drying time obtained when ultrasound was applied. The uniformly retreating interface model was modified to account for the cubic shape of the samples and used to establish the kinetic parameters, in particular to evaluate water diffusivity in the dried product, searching for the best fit between measured and calculated moisture content. The model was finally used to optimize the process in silico, considering an industrial unit as test case. In this case, it appeared that power ultrasound can increase the productivity of a tunnel dryer up to four or five times, and it allows the operational and fixed costs of the plant to be reduced significantly.     

固态食品常压吸附流化冷冻干燥的研究

至今为止,冷冻干燥技术得到应用的只有真空冷冻干燥一种,本文提出了常压吸附剂流化冷冻干燥,并具体阐述了数学模型和实验装置。通过与真空冷冻干燥进行比较,认为常压吸附流化冷冻干燥值得进一步深入研究,具有发展和应用前景。     

Optimization of microwave freeze drying strategy of mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) based on porosity change behavior

ABSTRACT

For dehydrated foods, porosity is a crucial parameter which affects mass and heat transfers, and is related to the product quality. It is important to monitor porosity change behavior to optimize the drying process. To achieve faster drying along with high product quality, microwave freeze drying (MFD) was applied to mushrooms dehydration processing. The relationship between porosity (include total, open-, and closed-pore porosity) and dried mushroom qualities was studied, and a suitable microwave loading strategy was obtained. It was found that lots of open pores could transform to closed pores while the moisture content (MC) was below 0.25?±?0.05?g/g (db), and the closed-pore porosity was arrived at a relatively stable level at moisture content below 0.17?±?0.03?g/g (db). Both total porosity and closed-pore porosity had a significant influence (P?<?0.01) on texture of MFD mushroom, and open-pore porosity had a significant effect (P?<?0.01) on rehydration ratio of MFD mushroom. According to the porosity change behavior of mushrooms, a dynamic microwave loading strategy can be used to reduce drying time and keep product quality during MFD process.     

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.     

Drying of Apple Slices in Atmospheric and Vacuum Freeze Dryer

Atmospheric freeze drying (AFD) and vacuum freeze drying (VFD) of Fuji apples was investigated. A factorial design was used in each case, with particle size, freezing rate, infrared (IR) radiation, and air temperature as factors. The effect of these factors on moisture content, duration of drying, rehydration properties, color, and texture were determined. The drying curves were fitted with both the simplified constant diffusivity model (SCDM) and the modified Page model, and rehydration curves were tested with the Peleg model, resulting in R² higher than 0.96. Antioxidant capacity, polyphenols, and ascorbic acid content in the final product were determined and compared with those obtained in a tunnel dryer. A sensory evaluation was performed.

The drying times obtained for VFD were shorter than the drying times obtained for AFD. The particle size and IR application were found to be the significant parameters that affect duration of drying for both AFD and VFD (duration of drying was proportional to particle size and inversely proportional to IR application). Air temperature affected drying time only during the secondary drying stage. Estimated D_eff values were on the order of 10^?10 (m²/s). In AFD, R² higher than 0.81 was obtained for the SCDM, and R² higher than 0.96 was obtained for the Page model. In VFD, a better fit was obtained (R² > 0.97) for both models. AFD produced nutritional alterations similar to convective drying. Sensory quality was not altered by AFD or VFD.     

真空冷冻干燥法制备CuO-ZnO-ZrO2甲醇合成催化剂

采用真空冷冻干燥法制备了一系列CuO-ZnO-ZrO2甲醇合成催化剂,在微型固定床反应器上考察了其对CO2加氢合成甲醇的催化性能及影响,并用XRD、H2-TPR、CO2-TPD、TEM、EDAX、BET等手段进行了表征。研究结果表明,采用真空冷冻干燥法能够制备出高比表面积、高活性、高选择性的甲醇合成催化剂CuO-ZnO-ZrO2。     

The effect of confinement in nanoporous polymers on the glass transition temperature

The glass transition temperature (T_g) of nanoporous polyetherimide (PEI) and PEI thin films was investigated. The T_g decreased from its bulk value in both of these confined systems. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to calculate the nearest neighbor pore-to-pore distances in the nanoporous PEI. A quantitative analogy between the nanoporous PEI and PEI thin films is proposed through an equivalence of nearest neighbor pore-to-pore distances and thin film thickness. The effect of confinement is believed to be due to the interface regions, which possess higher chain mobility than the bulk. When these high mobility interface regions are sufficiently close together, the excess mobility at the interface region affects the dynamics of the system by restraining percolation of the slow domains resulting in the observed decrease in T_g.     

文物冷冻干燥水蒸气扩散系数的测量

采用聚乙二醇(PEG)溶液进行预处理,然后加以冷冻干燥,是保护出土饱水木质文物的有效方法。在自制的冷冻干燥装置上进行了仿木质文物的冻干实验,根据实验数据拟合得到了干燥区的水蒸气扩散系数。该数据将为文物冻干过程的时间预测和控制优化提供帮助。     

Conformational transition characterization of glass transition behavior of polymers

The conformational transition behavior of polymer in the amorphous state has been investigated through molecular dynamics simulations across the glass transition temperature (T_g). We find that the conformational transition, a localized and short time dynamics feature, crosses over different barrier heights when the system transforms from the molten state into the glass state and the barrier height in the glass state is markedly lower than that above T_g. In addition to the overall transition behavior, the specific transitions between the rotational isomeric states (RIS) g⁺, t⁻, t⁺ and g⁻ are also investigated in detail. The populations of these specific transitions undergo considerable changes when the temperature decreases; meanwhile, the larger transition rates of the ending torsions get diminished. Besides the rate, the rotation degrees of the dihedrals during the transitions also change their distributions tremendously through T_g, below which most of the larger transition angles (50-100°) were inhibited remaining those sharply around 30°. This possibly explains why below T_g the conformational transition process has a lower effective barrier.     

Fabrication of transparent MgAl2O4 spinel via spray freeze drying of microfluidized slurry

Spherical granules were prepared from a monodispersed slurry by combining the microfluidization (MF) method and the spray freeze-drying (SFD) process. Starting with the prepared granules, transparent MgAl₂O₄ ceramics were fabricated through pressureless sintering followed by hot isostatic pressing. A comparison with a polydispersed slurry prepared by the ball-milling method showed successful fabrication of a mono-dispersed state by microfluidization method, and 80% visible in-line transmittance was obtained at a 600-nm wavelength from a process starting with a monodispersed slurry of low solid content. Microstructural analysis of the green bodies, the pre-sintered bodies, and the hot isostatic pressed bodies of the prepared MgAl₂O₄ ceramics revealed that the slurry dispersion should be controlled to a high level in order to suppress scattering sources such as pores and microcracks, which affect the in-line transmittance of visible light.     

The Effect of Glass Transition Temperature on the Procedure of Microwave–Freeze Drying of Mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus)

Freeze drying (FD) yields the best quality of dried mushroom but at the cost of a long drying time and high overall cost. Air drying (AD) gives an unacceptably poor quality product. To achieve faster drying along with a high-quality product, a microwave–freeze drying (MFD) technique was developed to dry mushrooms. The relationship between dried mushroom quality and the glass transition temperature during the MFD process was studied to optimize the MFD process. According to the change tendency of the glass transition temperature of mushroom during MFD, a step-down microwave loading scheme for the MFD process was developed to obtain good product quality.     

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.     

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.     

Morphology of alumina granules obtained by spray freeze drying with twin-fluid atomization

This study presents the results of the morphological dependence of alumina granules obtained by spray freeze drying (SFD) with twin-fluid atomization. It is shown that the introduction of 1-, 2- and 4-wt.% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binder in an alumina suspension leads to the formation of irregular granules. Depending on atomization conditions, spherical, “tadpole-like,” granule-satellite and granule aggregates may form during SFD. Increasing the flight time of droplets before the fixing of their shape when they come in contact with liquid nitrogen effectively contributes to the spheroidization of alumina granules. Compacting PVA-free SFD granules leads to the formation of diagonal flaws in a green-body structure. Adding PVA prevents the abovementioned defects by increasing the strength of alumina granules. Increasing the amount of PVA leads to an increase in “tadpole-like” granule content and, consequently, a decrease in a green-body density.     

DC electric field effects on Ehrenfest-like relations at the glass transition

There have been numerous studies on the effects of dc and alternating electric fields on phase transitions in small-molecule mixtures and high-molecular weight polymers. Furthermore, textbook examples discuss modifications in the melting temperature of pure materials that are subjected to uniform dc fields. This thermodynamic analysis extends some of these predictions to second-order phase transitions. Upon invoking both volume and entropy continuity via the integral approach to phase equilibrium at second-order transitions, electric field effects on the glass transition are developed that parallel the Ehrenfest equations for the pressure dependence of T_g. Both T_g-field equations predict small changes in the glass transition temperature that scale as the square of the electric field strength. If one equates the dependence of T_g on the magnitude of the electric field via (i) volume continuity and (ii) entropy continuity, it is possible to obtain the electric-field analog of the Prigogine-Defay equality, in which thermophysical properties and discontinuous observables at the zero-field and field-dependent second-order phase transition temperatures are related. When the temperature and pressure dependencies of the relative electric permittivity (i.e., dielectric constant) are neglected in the absence of external fields, one recovers the classic Prigogine-Defay equality (i.e., the lower limit of the Prigogine-Defay ratio) that was developed from a consideration of volume and entropy continuity for the pressure dependence of T_g, by invoking the differential approach to phase equilibrium.     

Morphological effects on glass transition behavior in selected immiscible blends of amorphous and semicrystalline polymers

The effects uncompatibilized immiscible polymer blend compositions on the T_g of the amorphous polymer were studied in the systems polystyrene/polypropylene (PS/PP), polystyrene/high density polyethylene (PS/PE) and polycarbonate/high density polyethylene (PC/PE). In the two similar systems of PS/PP and PS/PE, the T_g of PS increased with decreasing PS percentage in the blends. This variation in glass transition is attributed to the polymer domain interactions resulting from the different morphologies of various blend compositions. Experiments were conducted to study these effects by preparing blends with various polymers that varied the relationship between the T_g of the amorphous polymer and the crystallization behavior of the semicrystalline polymer. Results show that the variation in amorphous component T_g with composition depends strongly on the physical state of the semicrystalline domains. Whereas the T_g of PS in PS/PE blends changed with composition, the T_g of PC in the PC/PE blend did not change with composition.     

A novel atmospheric freeze dryer using simultaneous application of subzero and hot air streams using a vortex chiller

The objective of this research was to develop an atmospheric freeze-drying (AFD) system for heat-sensitive materials. A laboratory scale AFD system consisting of a vortex chiller was designed and fabricated. A vortex tube was used to convert compressed air into a subzero and a hot air stream. The system used the simultaneous application of subzero air stream and hot air carrier gas coupled with radiant heat input for drying heat-sensitive materials. A parametric evaluation of this drying system was performed. Comparison of drying characteristics and the physical quality (e.g., color, shape, size) with vacuum freeze and traditional AFD was also performed. Results revealed that the proposed system is a suitable and viable alternative without compromising the quality compared to traditional freeze-drying system.     

Optimization of spray freeze drying parameters for spark plasma sintering of transparent MgAl2O4 spinel

Magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl₂O₄) is considered as one of the most important spinels possessing desirable mechanical properties, with a wide range of applications at high temperatures. Powder granulation by spray freeze drying can lead to better powder flow and distribution in the mold, resulting in a specimen with high green density and strength. Accordingly, this study aimed at investigating the influential parameters on the granulation process of spinel powders via the spray freezing drying method. At first, spinel powders with various weight percents of 20, 25, 30, 35 and 50, and PVA binders with 0, 1, 2 and 8 wt% were investigated to prepare the optimal solution. Finally, the granules were sintered using the SPS method. The obtained bodies were tested by X-ray diffraction, SEM, FE-SEM, Viscosity and UV–Vis. The results showed that the optimal amount of the binder to obtain uniform granules in this process was 3%. Also, 35 wt% of solid loads represented the optimum amount for slurries, forming granules with the size range of 10–50 μm. By powder granulation, density experienced an increase of about 20%, leading to the growth of more than 15% in the in-line transmission for the IR range.     

Effects of Drying Methods on Functionality of a Native Potato Protein Concentrate

Pulp and dilute fruit water (PFW) are by-products from the potato starch processing industry. Potato protein obtained from an expanded bed adsorption (EBA) process is a value-added protein concentrate that can offer special technical properties in food systems. The influence of drying techniques on the physiochemical, quality, and functional properties (color, water content, bulk density, rehydration properties, sorption isotherms, specific enzyme activity, solubility, protein denaturation) of dehydrated potato water effluent was investigated. The results indicate that atmospheric freeze drying (AFD) is a more gentle drying process than spray drying and vacuum freeze drying. Both enthalpy measurements and sorption isotherms indicate reduced protein denaturation of AFD samples, while specific enzyme activity is at the same level for all dried samples.     

Effects of Drying Methods on Functionality of a Native Potato Protein Concentrate

Pulp and dilute fruit water (PFW) are by-products from the potato starch processing industry. Potato protein obtained from an expanded bed adsorption (EBA) process is a value-added protein concentrate that can offer special technical properties in food systems. The influence of drying techniques on the physiochemical, quality, and functional properties (color, water content, bulk density, rehydration properties, sorption isotherms, specific enzyme activity, solubility, protein denaturation) of dehydrated potato water effluent was investigated. The results indicate that atmospheric freeze drying (AFD) is a more gentle drying process than spray drying and vacuum freeze drying. Both enthalpy measurements and sorption isotherms indicate reduced protein denaturation of AFD samples, while specific enzyme activity is at the same level for all dried samples.