EFFECT OF OSMOTIC AGENT ON OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS

Mass transfer phenomena were investigated during osmotic dehydration of apple, banana and kiwi in glucose and sucrose osmotic solution. A complete set of experiments was performed for a wide range of temperature, sample size, speed of agitation, osmotic agent concentration and immersion time. An empirical model, based on a first order kinetic equation, was fitted satisfactorily to experimental data. Furthermore, the effect of solute molecular weight on mass transfer phenomena during the osmotic treatment was evaluated. The results showed that low molecular weight solute (glucose) leads to higher water loss and solids uptake than high molecular weight solute (sucrose), of osmodehydrated fruits under the same solution concentration.