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Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 479484 www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Water eective diusion coecient of mango slices at dierent maturity stages during air drying
Otoniel Corzo a,*, Nelson Bracho b, Carlos Alvarez a
a

cleo de Nueva Esparta, Guatamare, Venezuela Department of Food Technology, Universidad de Oriente, Nu b cleo de Nueva Esparta, Guatamare, Venezuela Department of Statistics, Universidad de Oriente, Nu Received 12 October 2007; received in revised form 20 December 2007; accepted 22 December 2007 Available online 8 January 2008

Abstract The water eective diusion coecient of green and half-ripe mango slices with an average thickness of 3.0 103 m during air drying was determined. The air drying was carried out at four air temperatures of 50, 60, 70 and 80 C and two air velocities of 1.80 and 1.91 m/s. Ficks second law of diusion modeled the drying process and an analytical solution was obtained assuming at geometry for the mango slice samples. Non-linear regression procedure evaluated the water eective diusion coecient of mango slices by minimizing the chi-squared deviation between the experimental and model predicted drying characteristics. The water eective diusion coefcient ranged approximately from 1.74 1010 to 3.15 1010 m2/s, and from 2.30 1010 to 3.28 1010 m2/s, for green and half-ripe mango slices, respectively. In general, diusion coecient increased with increasing air temperature and velocity. Temperature dependence of the eective moisture diusivity followed an Arrhenius relationship, regardless of air velocity and maturity stage. Diusion coefcient at 1.80 m/s was found to be the most temperature sensitive (Ea = 22.3 kJ/mol for green mango and Ea = 9.3 kJ/mol for half-ripe mango) while that at 1.91 m/s was the least temperature sensitive (Ea = 11.4 kJ/mol for green mango and Ea = 8.7 kJ/mol for half-ripe mango). 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Ficks second law; Air drying; Mango; Diusion coecient; Activation energy

1. Introduction Mango is the apple of the tropics, and one of the most commonly eaten fruits in tropical countries around the world. Green mango is the unripe fruit, which has many uses in the cuisines of many countries. This tart fruit is used fresh in various vegetable and lentil dishes and to tenderize meat. Dried green mango has many uses, one of the most popular being to make seasoning used to avor many dishes. The 20% of the crop in Venezuela is lost due to decient post-harvest handling. Industrial mango processed into snack products like strips could provide an alternative for utilization of this fruit. Drying of moist materials is a complicated process involving simultaneous, coupled heat
*

Corresponding author. E-mail address: otocorzo@cantv.net (O. Corzo).

and mass transfer phenomena, which occurs inside the material being dried (Yilbas et al., 2003). Moisture transport has been found to vary widely in food materials, due mainly to dierent physical structure. The drying curves obtained from drying experiments under controlled conditions provide useful information on the mechanism of moisture transport and they are utilized for the determination of water eective diusion coecient (Saravacos and Maroulis, 2001). Moisture diusivity in solid foods can be determined by dierent methods involving dened geometries, and well-dened experimental conditions (steady state or transient conditions). These methods, which have been used to estimate water diusivity are based on drying kinetics, sorption or desorption kinetics, and moisture prole analysis (Crank, 1975; Zogzas et al., 1994; Mwithiga and Olwal, 2005). Ficks second law of diffusion, based on eective diusivity approach, has been

0260-8774/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2007.12.025

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O. Corzo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 479484

used to describe the moisture diusion process for food products by many researchers (Azzouz et al., 2002; Fasina et al., 2002; Kayacier and Singh, 2004). There are two parameters required in Ficks second law, sample dimensions and eective diusion coecient. A eective diusion coecient can be obtained from numerical or analytical solutions to experimental data (Park et al., 2001; Nguyen et al., 2006), by applying the method of slope (Ade-Omowaye et al., 2002; Rastogi and Raghavarao, 2004), and applying linear and non-linear regressions (Roberts and Tong, 2003; Tungsangpateep and Jindal, 2004; Akpinar, 2006). It is very common in literature to consider any nite food geometry as innite at plate conguration, neglecting the diusion in the other directions. There is no enough information in the literature available about water eective diusion coecient of mango slices at dierent maturity stages. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the water eective diusion coecient of green and half-ripe mango slices during air drying and investigate the eects of temperature and velocity of air drying on water eective diusion coecient. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Sample preparation Mango fruits (Mangifera indica, variety Hilacha) were acquired from same crop grown in Margarita Island, Venezuela. Samples of green and half-ripe stages were washed by a tap water, then peeled and cut into slices with an average large of 45.2 103 m, average width of 34.4 103 m, and average thickness of 3.0 103 m, while seeds and skin was discarded. Ten mango fruits of given maturity stage (N = 80) were used for each experimental condition. The maturation degree was sensory evaluated by the texture (green = hard; half-ripe = semi-hard) and coloration (green = 100% green peel color; halfripe = 50% green peel color and 50% red peel color). The determination of moisture content for fresh mango was carried out in four replicates. The moisture content was determined by drying under vacuum (1.93 Pa) at 60 C until constant weight (AOAC, 1990). 2.2. Air drying The air drier used mainly consists of three basic units, a fan providing desired drying air velocity, heat exchanger using resistance coil controlling the temperature of drying air and drying chamber. The required air ow rate for drying is kept at the desired level by arranging the cycle number of the electrical motor. The air was heated up to the desired dry bulb temperature by the heat exchanger inside the air channel. The mango slices were uniformly spread in a drying pan as thin layer. After allowing the system to stabilize to ensure steady state conditions, samples were positioned in a perforated tray inside the dryer. Tray was suspended to a digital balance, the balance being placed

outside the drying chamber. The hot air owed uniformly across the sample with drying from both top and bottom sides. The drying experiments were carried out at air velocity of 1.80 or 1.91 m/s since these were the only velocities that could be performed on this dryer and temperature of 50, 60, 70 or 80 C. These conditions are normally used for air drying of fruits (Akpinar and Bicer, 2006; Goyal et al., 2007; Karabulut et al., 2007; Nguyen and Price, 2007). The air humidity was 0.018 0.001 kg/kg dry air. Changes in weight of slices were monitored at 10 min intervals by a digital balance of 0.01 g accuracy. The drying was continued until there is no large variation in the weight. Drying experiments were repeated twice. This procedure was followed for each experiment corresponding to the conditions according to a 4 2 2 factorial design where the air temperature, velocity, and maturity were 50, 60, 70 and 80 C, 1.80 and 1.91 m/s, and green and half-ripe mango, respectively. 2.3. Determination of eective diusion coecient In order to determine the water eective diusion coefcient the following assumptions considerations were taken into account: the main mass transfer mechanism was of diffusional nature, the external resistance to mass transfer negligible compared with internal resistance, the initial moisture content was uniform throughout the sample, the diusion coecient is constant and not a function of moisture concentration (Crank, 1975). The solution of Ficks second law of diusion from a at plate results in the following equation for the transfer of water (Crank, 1975): MR Xt Xe X0 Xe 1 X 8 n p2
n 0

2n 12 p2 De t exp 2 L2 2n 1 1

"

# 1

where MR is the moisture ratio, Xt is the moisture content at any time t, Xe and X0 are equilibrium and initial moisture contents; De is the water eective diusion coecient and L is the half-thickness of the slices for drying from both top and bottom sides and t is the drying time. As applied to convective drying of solids, this solution is valid only for the falling rate period when internal moisture diffusion controls the dehydration rate. 2.4. Statistical analysis Statistical evaluation of the results was performed using a 4 2 2 factorial design (four temperatures, two maturity stages and two velocities). The experimental moisture content data were non-dimensionlized (MR). Non-linear regression using LevenbergMarquandt method (Bates and Watts, 1988) was used for tting experimental moisture ratio data using Eq. (1). In this study, to estimate the water eective diusion coecient more accurately,

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481

Moisture content (kg water/kg db)

the rst three terms of the series in the analytical solution of the Fickian diusion model (Eq. (1)) were used. Analysis of variance was carried out to nd eects (p < 0.05) of air temperature and velocity on water diusion coecient. Multiple comparison tests were performed using LSDs test at the 95% condence level. Multiple linear regression was also used to develop an equation that relates water diusion coecient to air velocity and temperature. All statistical analyses were carried out with a Statgraphics 5.0 statistical software (Statistical Graphics Corp., Rockville, Md.). The diusion model was used to compare predicted moisture ratio during drying to that of experimental moisture ratio data. The performance of the diusion model was determined using the determination coecient (R2) of the linear regression, and the chi-square (v2) determined by the expression: PN 2 Y i Y pi 2 2 v i1 N n where Yi and Ypi are experimental and predicted (Eq. (1)) values, respectively, N is the number of experimental data points and n is the model parameters. Dependence of the water eective diusion coecient on temperature is represented by the Arrhenius equation: ! Ea De De0 exp 3 RT where De0 is the frequency factor (min ), Ea is the activation energy (J/mol), R the universal gas constant (8.314 J/mol K) and T is the absolute temperature (K). Then, the Fick model can be written as: 1 X Xt Xe 8 n 1 MR 2 X 0 X e p n0 2n 12 " E # 2 a 2n 1 p2 tDe0 exp RT exp 4 2 L Non-linear regression was used to tting database to Eq. (4) and the Arrhenius parameters were determined. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Drying curves The initial moisture content of green and half-ripe mango slices were observed to be 6.973 0.112 and 6.015 0.231 kg water/kg dry basis, respectively. Some of the drying curves for dierent maturity conditions are presented in Figs. 1 and 2 at dierent temperatures and air velocities. The equilibrium moisture content of the dried samples was calculated depending on the basis of weight changes of the samples. The equilibrium moisture content ranged from 0.105 0.008 to 0.325 0.018 kg water/ kg db. For all conditions a falling rate period was characterized by a rapid decrement of drying rate. This indicates that the main mechanism of water transport is diusion
1

Green mango slices

Moisture content (kg water/kg db)
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 30 60 90 120 150 180

Drying time (min)

Half-ripe mango slices

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 30 60 90 120 150

Drying time (min)

Fig. 1. Drying curves at 80 C for dierent maturity stages and velocities. (h) 1.80 m/s; () 1.91 m/s.

and that diusion equation may be applied to the analysis pez et al., 2000; Saravacos and Maroulis, of drying data (Lo 2001; Piga et al., 2004). An analysis of variance showed that moisture content decreased (p < 0.05) with increasing drying time and air temperature and velocity for all maturity stages. Dierences in moisture contents caused by dierent air velocities are lower for green mango than for half-ripe mango. Dierences in moisture contents caused by dierent temperatures are higher for green mango than for half-ripe mango. In general, towards the end of drying the inuence of both air temperature and velocity on moisture content changes is lower than at the beginning. Similar results were found during convective drying of apple (Menges and Ertekin, 2006), plum (Goyal et al., 2007), peach (Kingsly et al., 2007), and broccoli (Mrkic et al., 2007). Drying curves in Figs. 1 and 2 show that the moisture content change is lowest (p < 0.05) for green mango than half-ripe mango. This means that the moisture transport is controlled by inherent internal factors of maturity. 3.2. Water eective diusion coecient The high coecients of determination (R2 > 0.98), low chi-squared (v2) values, and no pattern evident with the residuals across the range of diusion coecients (not shown) indicated the goodness of t of experimental data

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O. Corzo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 479484

Moisture content (kg water/kg db)

Green mango slices

8 6 4 2 0 0 40 80 120 160 200

Drying time (min) Moisture content (kg water/kg db)

Half-ripe mango slices
6

0 0 30 60 90 120 150 180

Drying time (min)

Fig. 2. Drying curves at air velocity of 1.80 m/s for dierent maturity stages and air temperatures. (h) 50 C; () 60 C; (M) 70 C; (s) 80 C.

to Eq. (1) (Table 1). The v2 value (Table 1) indicates the relative error of the predictions, and low values are indicative of reasonable good t for most practical purpose for predicting moisture ratio. The De values ranged approximately from 1.74 1010 to 3.15 1010 m2/s, and from 2.30 1010 to 3.28 1010 m2/s for green and half-ripe mango, respectively. These values fell within the normally expected range of De (1012 to 108 m2/s) for dehydrated foods (Zogzas et al., 1996; Giovanelli et al., 2002; Achariyaviriya and n et al., 2004; Seth and Sarkar, Puttakarn, 2003; Gasto 2004; Gely and Santalla, 2007), or obtained by other techniques for dierent foods (Akanbi et al., 2006; Nguyen

et al., 2006; Veraverbeke et al., 2003). This variability depends on the types and conditions of experimental procedures used for determination of the moisture diusivity, data treatment methods (Zogzas and Maroulis, 1996) as well as on the product properties composition, physiological state, heterogeneity of the structure (Gou et al., 1996). Analysis of variance showed signicant dierences (p < 0.05) in the water eective diusion coecient caused by air temperature and velocity and maturity stage. At a constant air temperature, water diusion coecient increased (p < 0.05) with increasing air velocity. At a constant air velocity, water diusion coecient increased (p < 0.05) with increasing temperature. Similar results were obtained for tomato drying (Sacilik et al., 2006), for pear drying (Nguyen et al., 2006), for durian drying (Jamradloedluk et al., 2007), for banana drying (Nguyen and Price, 2007), for plum drying (Goyal et al., 2007), and for mango variety Hong Huay lychee drying (Achariyaviriya and Puttakarn, 2003). Values of water diusion coecient for green mango are lower than half-ripe mango. Therefore lower drying time is required to achieve a given water content in half-ripe mango strips than that for green mango strips. With maturity the tissues ripen and become softer, when compared to the harder green mango, providing reduced resistance to moisture movement. The increase in activity of several of the carbohydrate-degrading enzymes, which resulted in solubilization of the various polysaccharide fractions, are correlated with fruit-softening phenomenon (Yashoda et al., 2006). Chemical changes, especially signicant rise in the amount of sugar in half-ripe mango, may contribute to reducing the rate of water loss of halfripe mango. This would compensate for the more open structure of half-ripe mango which be expected to favor an increased drying rate for half-ripe mango. 3.3. Modeling eects of air temperature The high coecients of determination (R2 > 0.99) indicate that the water diusion coecient as a function of air temperature followed an Arrhenius relationship, for both the air velocities and maturity stages (Table 2). The computed values of activation energy (Ea) and natural log-

Table 1 Water eective diusion coecient of mango strips during air drying at dierent air velocities and temperatures Temperature (C) Velocity (m/s) Green mango De 1010 (m2/s) 50 60 70 80 1.80 1.91 1.80 1.91 1.80 1.91 1.80 1.91 1.74 0.25 2.23 0.09 2.09 0.23 2.71 0.30 2.49 0.11 3.07 0.08 3.00 0.16 3.15 0.07 R2 0.920 0.954 0.947 0.962 0.957 0.952 0.950 0.967 v2 0.00042 0.00038 0.00035 0.00027 0.00025 0.00029 0.00023 0.00028 Half-ripe mango De 1010 (m2/s) 2.30 0.14 2.52 0.34 2.47 0.15 2.91 0.30 2.80 0.26 3.08 0.33 3.13 0.19 3.28 0.21 R2 0.962 0.962 0.954 0.935 0.945 0.952 0.957 0.949 v2 0.00024 0.00028 0.00022 0.00030 0.00029 0.00024 0.00031 0.00029

O. Corzo et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 479484 Table 2 Activation energy (Ea) and frequency factor (ln (De0)) values for water diusion coecient of mango stripes during air drying at dierent air velocities Parameter Green mango 1.80 m/s -ln (De0) Ea(kJ/mol) R2
*

483

Half-ripe mango 1.91 m/s 17.9 0.2* 11.4 0.4* 0.997 1.80 m/s 18.8 0.3* 9.3 0.8* 0.990 1.91 m/s 18.9 0.3* 8.7 0.8* 0.991

16.1 0.2* 22.3 0.7* 0.992

Signicant at a = 0.001.

arithm of frequency factor (ln (De0)) are reported in Table 2. Higher Ea value indicated greatest temperature sensitivity of diusion coecient. Diusion coecient at 1.80 m/s was found to be the most temperature sensitive (Ea = 22.3 kJ/mol for green mango and Ea = 9.3 kJ/mol for half-ripe mango) while that at 1.91 was the least temperature sensitive (Ea = 11.4 kJ/mol for green mango and Ea = 8.7 kJ/mol for half-ripe mango). It can be seeing that the diusion coecient for green mango was found to be the most temperature sensitive. Labuza (1972) and Roberts and Tong (2003) reported that a diusion-controlled process will have an activation energy less than 34 kJ/mol. Therefore, the values found in activation energy for air drying of mango slices suggest that the limiting mechanism is the diusion. 4. Conclusions A simplied solution of Ficks second law for diusion from a at slab geometry successfully determined the water eective diusion coecient of green and half-ripe mango slices during air drying at dierent air temperatures and velocities. The values found were comparable with those in literature obtained with other techniques and for other dehydrated foods. The results of the analysis of variance test showed signicant eects of air temperature and air velocity on the water eective diusion coecient. Values of water diusion coecient for green mango are lower than those for half-ripe mango. The temperature dependence of the water eective diusion coecient indicated an Arrhenius relationship for both the air velocities and maturity stages. References
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