Suitable drying model for far infrared drying of taegeuk ginseng

In this study we have elucidated the suitable drying model for the far infrared drying of taegeuk ginseng. Thin layer drying tests of taegeuk ginseng were conducted at 3 temperature levels of 45, 55, and 65°C, and 3 taegeuk ginseng size levels of large, medium, and small. Four thin layer drying models were used to estimate drying curves. The goodness-of-fit of the drying models were evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R²), root mean square error (RMSE), mean relative deviation modulus (P_e), and reduced chi-square (χ²). In the mean time, the influences of drying temperature and taegeuk ginseng size on drying behavior were also determined. The results revealed that the Page model, which can describe the far infrared drying behavior of taegeuk ginseng with a great accuracy, was the best model to fit adequately most of the drying conditions for the far infrared drying of taegeuk ginseng.     

Effect of processing methods on the concentrations of bioactive components of ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) adventitious roots

Adventitious roots of Korean mountain ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) were processed by using forced air drying methodology at 30, 50 and 70 °C for 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 h with objective of developing suitable processing/drying technique. Drying of adventitious roots at 50 °C for 10 h was found suitable as desirable moisture content (3.13 g water/dry matter i.e. 10%) could be reached with dried roots. Roots which were dried by such treatment were also possessing higher amount of ginsenosides (1.5 mg g⁻¹ DW triols, 15.9 mg g⁻¹ DW diols and 17.4 mg g⁻¹ DW of total ginsenosides) and phenolics. Adventitious roots were also processed by using far infrared and freeze drying methods and results revealed that forced air drying method is superior to far infrared and freeze drying methods.     

Optimisation of a pilot‐scale spray drying process for probiotic yoghurt,using response surface methodology

The influence of drying air temperatures, drying air flow rate and feed flow rate on percentage survival rate (% SR) of starter and probiotic bacteria, moisture content, water activity and colour of probiotic yoghurt powder produced using a pilot‐scale spray dryer was investigated. Optimisation of spray drying conditions was achieved based on the desirability value. Results showed that inlet air temperature, drying air flow rate, feed flow rate and outlet air temperature of 150 °C, 478 m³/h, 2 L/h and 63.3 °C, respectively, were optimal conditions to produce powder that meets quality specifications and with a satisfactory% SR.     

Effect of combined microwave‐hot air drying and superheated steam drying on physical and chemical properties of rice

Jasmine rice (Oryza sativa L.) was subjected to two drying operations: combined microwave‐hot air drying (MHA) at initial power intensity of 3, 4 and 6 W g^?1 and superheated steam drying (SHS) at 300 °C and 400 °C. During drying, kinetic rate constants of SHS were significantly higher than those of MHA. Both drying operations could decrease enthalpy of starch gelatinisation from 9.28 J g^?1 to 1.64–6.17 J g^?1, increase gelatinisation extent to 33.51–82.33%, decrease crystallinity from 28.87% to 18.15–21.33%, improve scavenging ability of 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl, increase ferric reducing antioxidant power and increase hardness of cooked rice from 5.66 N to 5.83–6.55 N, depending on microwave power and drying medium temperature. However, taste profiles and liking scores were comparable to the regular brown rice. Therefore, MHA and SHS operations could be potentially used for reducing drying process and promoting antioxidant activity.     

Effects of microwave and hot‐air drying methods on colour, β‐carotene and radical scavenging activity of apricots

The effects of drying by microwave and convective heating at 60 and 70 °C on colour change, degradation of β‐carotene and the 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging activity of apricots were evaluated. Microwave heating reduced significantly the drying time (up to 25%), if compared with convective one, also owing to the higher temperature reached during the last phase of the process, as monitored by infrared thermography. Colour changes of apricot surface, described with lightness and hue angle, in both drying methods followed a first‐order reaction (0.927 ≤ R² ≤ 0.996). The apricots dried by microwave were less affected by the darkening phenomena. The evolution of β‐carotene in fresh apricots (61.2 ± 5.6 mg kg^?1 d.w.) during the drying highlighted a wider decrease (about 50%) when microwave heating was employed for both the temperatures used. Radical scavenging activity increased (P < 0.05) in all dried samples except for hot‐air dried apricots at 60 °C.     

Effect of drying kinetics on main bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of acerola (Malpighia emarginata D.C.) residue

This study investigates the drying kinetics of residue of acerola, in a fixed‐bed dryer, analysing the effect of the process variables on the antioxidant properties of the residue. A complete factorial design 3² has been performed, where the independent variables studied were as follows: air velocity (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m s^?1) and air‐drying temperature (40, 50 and 60 °C). The bioactive compounds studied were L‐ascorbic acid, total phenolic, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity (expressed as IC₅₀) was determined using free radical DPPH^?. Both independent variables studied have shown to be statistically significant. The content of ascorbic acid was the highest at 60 °C and 1.0 m s^?1 (126.2 ± 0.004 mg 100 g^?1) while for the fresh residue 16.12 ± 0.003 mg 100 g^?1, whereas the total phenolic showed the highest content at 50 °C and 1.5 m s^?1 (46.2 ± 0.003 mg gallic acid.100 g^?1) while for the fresh residue 12.59 ± 0.001 mg gallic acid.100 g^?1. The drying conditions play an important role in determining the final quality of the product mainly in terms of antioxidant activity.     

Drying Kinetics and β-Carotene Degradation in Carrot Undergoing Different Drying Processes

Superheated steam drying, which is an airless drying technology, has recently received much attention as an alternative to conventional hot air drying, which is a relatively oxygen‐rich drying process and causes much product quality degradation. However, because most food products are damaged when subjected to superheated steam at atmospheric or higher pressures, lowering the dryer operating pressure is preferred. In this study, the effects of a low‐pressure superheated steam drying (LPSSD), vacuum drying, and hot air drying on the drying and degradation kinetics of β‐carotene in carrot were investigated experimentally. LPSSD and vacuum drying led to less degradation of β‐carotene in carrot than in the case of hot air drying. The empirical models, which can describe the experimental data of β‐carotene degradation in carrot undergoing different drying techniques, were also proposed. β‐Carotene degradation in carrot depended more on the carrot temperature than its moisture content in all cases.     

Evaluation of drying models of apple (var. McIntosh) dried in a convective dryer

Drying behaviour of apple particles was investigated in a laboratory type dryer. The effect of drying air temperature, airflow velocity, initial height of layer, particles shape and size on the dehydration characteristics of apples was investigated. Increase in drying air temperature and increase in the airflow velocity caused a decrease in the drying time and an increase in drying rate. Increase in initial height of layer and increase in the sample thickness caused an increase in the drying time and decrease in drying rate. Drying time of the cubes was shorter and their drying rate was higher than for slices. The experimental dehydration data of apple particles obtained were fitted to the semi‐theoretical, empirical and theoretical models. The accuracies of the models were measured using the correlation coefficient (R), mean bias error (MBE), root mean square error (RMSE), reduced chi‐square (χ²), and t‐statistic method. All models described the drying characteristics of apple particles satisfactorily (R > 0.9792). The Logarythmic model can be considered as the most appropriate (R > 0.9976, MBE = ?10^?11?4.5 × 10^?6, RMSE = 0.00287–0.01746, χ² = 8.5 × 10^?6?3.1 × 10^?4, t‐stat = 7.3 × 10^?9?1.2 × 10^?3). The effect of drying air temperature, airflow velocity, characteristic dimension of the particle and initial height of layer on the drying models parameters were also determined.     

Drying characteristics and thermal degradation kinetics of hardness,anthocyanin content and colour in purple‐ and red‐fleshed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) during hot air drying

Purple‐fleshed potatoes (PFP) and red‐fleshed potatoes (RFP) were dried using hot air. The hardness, anthocyanin content and colour in PFP and RFP during drying were evaluated at 60, 70 and 80 °C. The hardness was characterised by a softening stage in the early drying period, followed by a hardening stage. The times to reach at the transition were 420, 300 and 240 min at 60, 70 and 80 °C, respectively, for PFP, and 480, 360 and 240 min for RFP. However, the moisture content of both PFP and RFP at the transition time was identical at 0.3 (d.b.). The two stages of hardness changes were well described by combining two modified first‐order kinetics models. The activation energy (E_a) for the degradation of anthocyanin in PFP and RFP was 25.12 and 28.43 kJ mol^?1, respectively. The E_a values demonstrated that the thermal sensitivity of PFP was higher than that of RFP.     

Single-layer drying characteristics and colour kinetics of red chilli

Single‐layer drying experiments were conducted under controlled conditions of temperature, relative humidity (RH) and air velocity to find out the effects of drying conditions and blanching on the drying rate and colour of Thai red chilli. Drying rate increased with an increase of drying air temperature and a decrease of RH. Air temperatures above 65 °C affected the colour of red chilli. Red chilli should be dried at an air velocity equal to or just above 0.50 m s^?1. Above this value, the drying rate becomes independent of air velocity. RH and air velocity have no effect on the colour of red chilli. Faster drying rate and higher colour value was found for the blanched sample rather than the unblanched sample. The Newton and the Page equations were fitted to the experimental data. The Newton equation was found to describe the single‐layer drying of red chilli better than the Page equation.     

The effects of middle infrared radiation intensity on the quality of dried tomato products

The effects of air temperature (T) (unheated and 35 °C), infrared radiation intensity (IP) (894, 1004, 1190, 1314 and 1410 Wm^?2) and air velocity (Av) (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 ms^?1) on drying characteristics of tomatoes, drying time (DT), specific energy consumption (SEC) and quality parameters were investigated. DT and SEC varied between 114 and 249 min, 10.04 and 18.22 MJ kg^?1 water, respectively, and were significantly affected by process variables. Shrinkage ratio (S) and rehydration ratio (R_r) were varied between 0.129 and 0.214, 2.11 and 2.86 for all the drying conditions, respectively. Total colour change (ΔE) varied from 5.30 to 13.19. Vitamin C content decreased, while lycopene content increased with infrared drying. For optimum points, desirability of functions of all targets had satisfactory, very good and excellent desirability values and ranged between 0.54 and 0.99.     

Tomato peel drying and carotenoids stability of the extracts

Tomato peels were firstly dried by different methods (hot air, freeze‐drying, and fluidized bed drying) to evaluate the recovery of lycopene, β‐carotene and DPPH radical scavenging activity. Comparison of the results showed that hot air drying at 50 °C was a suitable method and alternative to freeze‐drying to preserve carotenoids compounds and antioxidant activity in tomato peels. Then, ethanol/ethyl acetate (1:1) extracts from tomato peel, previously dried at 50 °C by hot air, were submitted to heat (100 °C) and light treatment (1000 lumen) to evaluate their stability as natural food dyes. Heating of the extracts caused a progressive reduction of total carotenoids, up to about 30% after 250 min of treatment, whereas the colour at the end of heat treatment showed small changes, with an overall colour difference (?E) equal to 7. Fluorescent lighting treatment showed an almost total degradation of carotenoids in the extracts after 48 h combined with a fading colour.     

Effect of microwave vacuum drying and hot air drying on the physicochemical properties of durian flour

Unripe durian cv. Monthong was subjected to microwave vacuum drying (MVD) at 1200, 1600 and 2200 W and hot air drying (HAD) at 40, 50 and 60 °C to produce durian flour. Drying rate of MVD and HAD was 0.34–0.58 kg water kg dry solid^?1 min^?1 and 0.02–0.06 kg water kg dry solid^?1 min^?1, respectively. An increase in drying rate by either increasing hot air temperature or increasing microwave power decreased the degree of crystallinity from 21.95% to 2.31% and from 7.72% to 4.05%, respectively. Moreover, the increased drying rate caused a decrease in endothermic enthalpy (ΔH_gel) and pasting properties. Starch content of the durian flour was 41.40–47.03%. The starch granule morphology of durian flour was disrupted which indicated gelatinisation of flour during drying. Due to a short drying process, the MVD flour had less a*‐value (P ≤ 0.05) than the HAD flour.     

Latent heat of Korean ginseng

The latent heats of Korean ginsengs were analyzed using the data of equilibrium moisture contents. The latent heat of ginseng with pre-processing, or boiling, was larger than that of ginseng without pre-processing. The latent heat of ginseng in desorption showed a higher value than that in adsorption. The models of latent heats for white ginseng and taegeuk ginseng in desorption and taegeuk ginseng in adsorption were developed.     

Antibacterial activity of Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) stems–leaves extract produced by subcritical water extraction

Antibacterial activities of ginseng extracts produced from ginseng by‐products, stems and leaves, using subcritical water extraction (SWE) at 110, 165 and 190 °C, were evaluated and compared with those of ginseng extracts prepared by hot water and ethanol extraction. The ginseng stems–leaves extract produced by SWE at 190 °C contained the greatest concentration of phenolics (98.4 mg GAE g^?1 of extract). All ginseng extracts inhibited the growth of Bacillus cereus, Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes. Among four strains, B. cereus was more sensitive to the ginseng extract by SWE at 190 °C than other bacteria. Cell membranes of bacteria were disrupted by the addition of SWE ginseng extract, observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with the release of cellular contents. These findings provided evidence about the potential utilisation of ginseng stems and leaves by using an environmental friendly extraction process, SWE, to produce ginseng extract for the inhibition of bacteria growth.     

Effects of high hydrostatic pressure on structure and colour of red ginseng (Panax ginseng)

BACKGROUND: The conventional method of processing ginseng (Panax ginseng) roots into red ginseng involves mainly heating and drying processes. In the present study, this method was modified by using high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) to improve the physicochemical characteristics of red ginseng. RESULTS: The HHP process (600 MPa for 1 min) significantly improved the histological properties of red ginseng by increasing cellular disruption and release of cell contents. The total reducing sugar content was significantly (P < 0.05) higher (increased from 10.67 to 15.25 mg g^?1) in red ginseng processed at 600 MPa for 1 min. Similarly, the total free amino acid content also increased significantly (from 2.81 to 7.77 mg g^?1). The HHP process resulted in superior and more even colouration and gave an attractive visual appearance to red ginseng. The optical density at 420 nm and Hunter's colour a value (redness) of extracts prepared from red ginseng increased significantly (P < 0.05) with the application of HHP. CONCLUSION: HHP‐processed red ginseng has significantly higher reducing sugar and free amino acid contents together with a more compact cell structure and superior visual quality (brighter red colour). Hence the application of HHP in red ginseng processing can result in ginseng products of improved quality compared with those obtained by the conventional method. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Drying performance and economic analysis of novel hybrid passive-mode and active-mode solar dryers for drying fruits in East Africa

In East Africa, post-harvest loss of fresh perishable fruits is enormous, causing recurrent seasonal deficits. In response, a modified passive-mode hybrid solar dryer hereafter called; ‘an Improved Solar Dryer (ISD)’, was developed as a potential low-cost technology alternative for drying fruits in Uganda. An improved PV-assisted hot air dryer using active-mode hybrid solar dryer hereafter called; ‘Solar Photovoltaic and Electric (SPE)’ was also fabricated. The ISD dryer utilises freely-available solar energy to dry the produce. In contrast, the SPE dryer uses both solar photovoltaic and electricity sources. In this study, the drying performance of the ISD and SPE dryers were performed and compared to that of the traditional open sun drying (OSD) method. Relative to the OSD method, the economic performance of the ISD and SPE dryers was analysed. The drying performance results show that the mean drying air temperatures achieved by the ISD and SPE dryers were 31.9 and 41.1 °C respectively; relative to the 27.6 °C for the OSD method. On average, the thermal energy attained by the ISD and SPE dryers were 3551 and 5757 Watts (W) respectively, as compared to 2952 (W) obtained for the OSD method. It took the ISD and SPE dryers 10 and 18 h to effectively dry the fruit (pineapple) products, respectively as opposed to the 30 h taken by the OSD method. The results confirm the superior performance of the ISD and SPE dryers than the OSD method. Results for the economic performance analysis show more reduced costs of drying the products using the ISD than the SPE dryer. Similarly, the pay-back period for the ISD was 2.4 times shorter than that of the SPE dryer. Joint results for economic analysis and drying performance confirm the ISD as a better drying technology than the SPE dryer in the context of the resource-constrained farmers/agro-processors without electricity in Uganda and East Africa.     

Characterization of hot air drying and microwave vacuum drying of fingerroot (Boesenbergia pandurata)

Fingerroot (Boesenbergia pandurata) was subjected to hot air drying and microwave vacuum drying. Effective moisture diffusion coefficient during the hot air drying at 60 and 70 °C were 0.2073 × 10^?10 and 0.4106 × 10^?10 m² s^?1 respectively. By using the microwave vacuum drying (13.3 kPa) at the power of 2880 and 3360 W, the effective moisture diffusion coefficient were increased to 5.7910 × 10^?10 and 6.8767 × 10^?10 m² s^?1 respectively. Based on Lewis model, drying rate constants were 0.0002, 0.0004, 0.0061 and 0.0072 s^?1 for the hot air drying at 60 and 70 °C and the microwave vacuum drying at 2880 and 3360 W respectively. Compared with the hot air drying, the microwave vacuum drying decreased drying time by 90%. Rehydration ability of the microwave vacuum dried samples was also significantly improved (P ≤ 0.05), because of porous structure. In addition, the rehydrating water of the microwave vacuum dried samples contained higher b*‐value (yellowness) than that of the hot‐air‐dried samples (P ≤ 0.05).     

Comparison of the effect of microwave freeze drying and microwave vacuum drying upon the process and quality characteristics of potato/banana re‐structured chips

This study investigated the drying characteristics of microwave freeze‐drying (MFD)/microwave vacuum drying (MVD) of banana/potato restructured chips of varying proportion and microwave power. The results showed the MFD drying time had a maximum one‐hour time difference between the samples treated with 2 W g^?1 and 3 W g^?1 microwave power; and the higher potato content samples have about 30 min predominance than low potato content samples in drying time and the total drying time of MVD samples was less than 60 min. For the rehydration ratio, MFD samples were far superior to the MVD samples. The MFD samples had more than 4.5 rehydration ratio. The data of the colour difference metre showed that 3 W g^?1 microwave power would make samples slightly charred. The biggest differences between the MFD and MVD chips lie in their texture and shape; the hardness of MVD samples was 30.86 N, thrice higher than MFD samples.     

Drying of edamames by hot air and vacuum microwave combination

The characteristics of hot air and vacuum microwave drying were compared using edamame as the raw material, and an optimized combination drying process was then established thereof so as to achieve increased drying rate and enhanced product quality. Edamame was subjected to 70 °C hot air drying for 20 min, and then microwave dried at power intensity 9.33 W/g for 15 min under −95 kPa (gauge pressure). The optimized combination drying process exhibited significantly shortened drying time as compared with conventional hot air drying, and greatly decreased mass loads on the vacuum microwave dryer.