Improving orange pomace dehydration process through a new controlled atmosphere dryer under vacuum conditions: A bioactive compound investigation and optimization

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan 65178-38695, Iran

2 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan 65178-38695, Iran

3 School of Chemical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran 16846-13114, Iran

Abstract

This study aimed to reduce food waste of orange pomace through an improved vacuum dryer with two different normal (NAtmNorAtm) and controlled atmosphere (CAtmConAtm) methods. N2 gas was injected into a vacuum chamber to control the drying atmosphere to limit the oxidation reaction. A central composite design (CCD) optimization approach was applied with temperature and pressure levels of 45 to 85 ℃ with the interval of 10 ℃ and 40 to 80 kPa with a 10 kPa interval, respectively, for both drying methods. The parameters, including effective moisture diffusivity, total energy consumption, color indices (ΔL*, Δa*, Δb*, and BI), antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, and ascorbic acid, were measured for all samples during the drying process.

The results showed that the controlled atmosphere positively affected the drying rate (16% increased on average) and could reduce energy consumption (16% decreased on average). Also, in addition to achieving more antioxidant capacity (11% increase), the ascorbic acid was more stable (up to 200%) under the controlled atmosphere conditions. TPC changes were significant at the level of 0.05 just for temperature changes by NAtmNorAtm. On the other hand, the effect of vacuum on the Δa* was insignificant for both ConAtm, and NorAtm, and the value of Δa* orange pomace dried by CAtmConAtm was lower than NAtmNorAtm about 27%.

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Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 22 October 2023

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