Effects of Osmotic Dehydration on the Hot Air Drying of Apricot Halves: Drying Kinetics, Mass Transfer, and Shrinkage

This study aimed to determine the effects of osmotic dehydration on kinetics hot air drying apricot halves under conditions that were similar industrial ones. The process was performed in a sucrose solution at 40 and 60 °C concentrations 50% 65%. As expected increased temperatures resulted water loss, solid gain shrinkage. well described by Peleg model. effective diffusivity 5.50–7.387 × 10−9 m2/s solute 8.315 10−10–1.113 calculated for dehydration. Hot carried out 40, 50, with flow velocities 1.0 m/s 1.5 m/s. time shortened higher temperature velocity. diffusion from 3.002 10−10 1.970 m2/s. activation energy sensitive selected temperatures, so greater velocity energy: 46.379–51.514 kJ/mol, pretreatment, it decreased 35.216–46.469 kJ/mol. Osmotic reduced during process. It also smaller shrinkage