The effect of vacuum on the drying kinetics and mathematical modelling of blueberries

Abstract

Blueberry is a small fruit, which has a very high amount of antioxidant substances. It is consumed either in fresh or dried form. In this study, the effect of vacuum on the oven thin-layer drying of blueberries was investigated. The kinetic parameters of effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) and activation energy (Ea) values were calculated. Moreover, the drying curves were modelled with the most known mathematical modelling equations given in the literature. For oven and vacuum oven drying, the drying temperatures were selected as 60, 70 and 80°C. The drying times were seen to decrease by increasing the drying temperature and with the effect of vacuum. The highest drying time was observed as 420 minutes in oven drying at 60°C. The effect of vacuum decreased this drying time to 240 minutes. Deff values were calculated to elucidate the underlying mass transfer mechanisms by using Fick’s 2nd law, which were found to be between 1.14-2.83×10-9 m2/s for oven drying and increased to 2.54-4.33×10-9 m2/s by the addition of vacuum. Likewise, activation energy was increased from 25.93 to 43.98 kJ/mol by vacuum addition. Twelve mathematical models were applied to the drying curve data and among them, Alibas model for both oven drying and vacuum-assisted oven drying gave the coefficient of determination (R2) values that were higher than 0.997. As a result, the vacuum addition was seen to yield lower drying times and higher kinetic parameters for the oven drying of blueberries.

Keywords

• Activation Energy
• Blueberry
• Drying
• Effective Moisture Diffusivity
• Oven
• Vacuum

References

1. [1] Anandharamakrishnan C. Introduction to Drying. In: Anandharamakrishnan C, editor. Handbook of drying for dairy products. New Jersey: Wiley; 2017. p. 114. [CrossRef]
2. [2] Calín-Sánchez A, Figiel A, Wojdylo A, Szaryez M, Carbonell-Barrachina AA. Drying of garlic slices using convective pre-drying and vacuum-microwave finishing drying: Kinetics, energy consumption, and quality studies. Food Bioprocess Technol 2014;7:398408. [CrossRef]
3. [3] Kaleta A, Górnicki K. Some remarks on evaluation of drying models of red beet particles. Energy Conv Manag 2010;51:29672978. [CrossRef]
4. [4] Guiné RP. The drying of foods and its effect on the physical-chemical, sensorial and nutritional properties. Int J Food Eng 2018;4:93100. [CrossRef]
5. [5] Pan Z, Khir R, Godfrey LD, Lewis R, Thompson JR, Salim A. Feasibility of simultaneous rough rice drying and disinfestations by infrared radiation heating and rice milling quality. J Food Eng 2008;84:469479. [CrossRef]
6. [6] Punathil L, Basak T. Microwave Processing of Frozen And Packaged Food Materials: Experimental. In: Kırtıl E, Öztop HM, editors. Reference module in food science. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2016. [CrossRef]
7. [7] Huang W, Yan Z, Li D, Ma Y, Zhou J, Sui Z. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of blueberry anthocyanins on high glucose-induced human retinal capillary endothelial cells. Oxid Med Cell Longev 2018;2018:1862462. [CrossRef]
8. [8] Shi J, Pan Z, Mchugh TH, Wood D, Hirschberg E, Olson D. Drying and quality characteristics of fresh and sugar-infused blueberries dried with infrared radiation heating. LWT Food Sci Technol 2008;41:19621972. [CrossRef]

9. [9] Silva S, Costa EM, Veiga M, Morais RM, Calhau C, Pintado M. Health promoting properties of blueberries: A review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2020;60:181200. [CrossRef]
10. [10] Giacalone M, Sacco D, Traupe I, Pagnucci N, Forfori F, Giunta F. Blueberry Polyphenols and Neuroprotection. In: Watson R, Preedy V, editors. Bioactive nutraceuticals and dietary supplements in neurological and brain disease: Prevention and therapy. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2015. p. 1728. [CrossRef]
11. [11] FAOSTAT. Food and agriculture data. Available at: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data. Accessed on May 7, 2024.
12. [12] Vega-Gálvez A, Lemus-Mondaca R, Tello-Ireland C, Miranda M, Yagnam F. Kinetic study of convective drying of blueberry variety O’neil (Vaccinium corymbosum L.). Chilean J Agric Res 2009;69:171178. [CrossRef]
13. [13] Zielinska M, Sadowski P, Blaszczak W. Combined hot air convective drying and microwave-vacuum drying of blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.): Drying kinetics and quality characteristic. Dry Technol 2016;34:15322300. [CrossRef]
14. [14] MacGregor W. Effects of air velocity, air temperature, and berry diameter on wild blueberry drying. Dry Technol, 2005;23:387396. [CrossRef]
15. [15] Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Official methods of analysis. Available at: https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/002/aoac.methods.1.1990.pdf. Accessed on May 7, 2024.
16. [16] Kipcak AS, Doymaz İ. Microwave and infrared drying kinetics and energy consumption of cherry tomatoes. Chem Ind Chem Eng Q 2020;26:203212. [CrossRef]
17. [17] Kipcak AS, İsmail O. Microwave drying of fish, chicken and beef samples. J Food Sci Technol 2021;58:281291. [CrossRef]
18. [18] Sevim S, Derun EM, Tugrul N, Doymaz İ, Kipcak AS. Temperature controlled infrared drying kinetics of mussels. J Indian Chem Soc 2019;96:12331238.
19. [19] Kipcak AS, Doymaz İ. Mathematical modelling and drying characteristics investigation of black mulberry dried by microwave method. Int J Fruit Sci 2020;20:12221233. [CrossRef]
20. [20] Doymaz İ, Kipcak AS, Piskin S. Characteristics of thin-layer infrared drying of green bean. Czech J Food Sci 2015;33:8390. [CrossRef]
21. [21] Doymaz İ, Kipcak AS, Piskin S. Microwave drying of green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) slices: Drying kinetics and physical quality. Czech J Food Sci 2015;33:367376. [CrossRef]
22. [22] Kara C, Doymaz I. Effective moisture diffusivity determination and mathematical modelling of drying curves of apple pomace. Heat Mass Tran 2015;51:983989. [CrossRef]
23. [23] Benseddik A, Azzi A, Zidoune MN, Khanniche R, Besombes C. Empirical and diffusion models of rehydration process of differently dried pumpkin slices. J Saudi Soc Agric Sci 2019;18:401410. [CrossRef]
24. [24] Ozyalcin ZO, Kipcak AS. The effect of ultrasonic pre-treatment on the temperature controlled infrared drying of Loligo Vulgaris and comparison with the microwave drying. J Fish Aquat Sci 2021;21:135145. [CrossRef]
25. [25] Ozyalcin ZO, Kipcak AS. The ultrasound effect on the drying characteristics of Loligo Vulgaris by the methods of oven and vacuum-oven. J Aquat Food Prod Technol 2022;31:187199. [CrossRef]
26. [26] Abubakar AM, Umdagas LB, Waziri AY, Itamah EI. Estimation of biogas potential of liquid manure from kinetic models at different temperature. Int J Sci Res Comput Sci Eng 2022;10:4663.
27. [27] Abubakar AM, Silas K, Aji MM, Taura UH, Undiandeye J. Biogas production from chicken manure: Characterization and kinetic models. Bayero J Eng Technol 2022;17:113.
28. [28] Abubakar AM, Soltanifar Z, Kida MM, Ahmed ZD. Sensitivity analysis of kinetic growth model data: Monod equation. Schol J Nat Med Edu 2022;1.
29. [29] Kipcak AS, Derun EM, Tugrul N, Doymaz İ. Drying characteristics of blue mussels by traditional methods. Chem Ind Chem Eng Q 2021;27:279288. [CrossRef]