Impregnation and Infiltration Kinetics of Isotonic Solution in Whole Jalapeño Pepper Using a Vacuum Pulse

ABSTRACT: The kinetics incorporation of an isotonic solution (IS) into the whole jalapeño pepper, as a function of the vacuum pressure (p₁, vacuum application time (t₁), and relaxation time (t₂), is necessary to determining the conditions leading to the highest incorporation of IS. This study was aimed at determining the operation conditions to achieve maximum impregnation (M_in) of whole jalapeño pepper tissue, and a complete infiltration (M_in) of its inner void with an IS, using a vacuum pulse. Impregnation of whole jalapeño peppers was conducted using an IS (a_w= 0.993 ± 0.001), a vacuum pulse, and 5 levels for each process variable (t₁, t₂, p₁), according to a central composite design. The amounts of impregnated and infiltrated IS were measured by following changes in pepper weight. The p₁, t₂ had a significant effect (P < 0.01) on the rate of M_im and M_in (g IS/g pepper). It was found that the structure of whole jalapeño plays an important role in the deformation‐relaxation process, which also affects the impregnation and infiltration kinetics. A high level of p₁ (666 mbar) and t₂ (840 min) allowed to achieve the maximum values of M_im and M_in (0.07 and 0.29 g IS/g pepper, respectively). These results suggest that different driving force acts in promoting the M_im and M_in, during the t₁ and t₂. This information will be of great value in the analysis of the pickling process of whole jalapeño pepper with a hypertonic solution and a vacuum pulse.     

Vertical and horizontal integration systems in Industry 4.0

Wireless Networks - Industrial and technological growth, sponsored by the new organizational systems generated by the fourth industrial revolution, require adapt new business management ways in the...     

Intelligent system for selection of order picking technologies

The material handling industry in order to increase the productivity and quality of the order picking process has developed various technical or technological equipment. Therefore, to establish the right technology for every specific business context is a decision that need to be evaluated in a right way. The purpose of this paper is to create an intelligent decision model to select the most appropriate order picking technology. The present study shows an artificial neural network (ANN) trained with the results of an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The weighting of the determining criteria and the prioritization of the different technologies from several experts are obtained through the AHP, while the artificial neural network is used to automate the decision process. The designed ANN can synthesize expert judgments and then predict the prioritization of order picking technologies.