Food Engineering Reviews

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12393-018-9175-0

REVIEW ARTICLE

Material Properties and Tableting of Fruit Powders

M. G. Aziz 1 & Y. A. Yusof 2 & C. Blanchard 3 & M. Saifullah 2 & A. Farahnaky 3 & G. Scheiling 4

Received: 6 June 2017 / Accepted: 5 March 2018

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract
The tableting of fruit powders is gaining popularity due to conveniences in its use, storage, transportation, and product formu-
lation. Food powders are generally cohesive in nature, and their compressibility is highly correlated with the material properties
of the powder. Here, the material properties of fruit powders and their respective compressibilities in relation to powder type,
drying technique and their operating parameters, portion of the fruit used to produce the fruit powder, and drying aids are
discussed. Among the material properties analyzed, moisture content, water activity, particle density, particle size and shape,
and powder surface properties are identified as vital properties that highly influence the tableting behavior of fruit powders. The
Kawakita and Lüdde model and Heckel equation are widely studied to describe the compressibility and compactibility of fruit
powders. A four-parameter model fits the sigmoidal compression data of food powders well.

Keywords Fruit powder . Flowability . Cohesiveness . Tableting . Compaction modeling . Dissolution

Introduction dietary supplements and functional foods/nutraceuticals [29].

A wide variety of fruits are produced in large quantities around
the world, and their exportation value plays an important role
in the economy of many countries [80, 88]. Fruit is considered
an important and indispensable source of dietary fiber, vita-
mins, and minerals. Many fruits have distinct flavors and
colors and are used to bring variety into the daily diet.
Recent research has explored fruit extracts as one of their chest
sources of natural health, promoting functional ingredients
and including food products marketed in the form of both
* M. G. Aziz
aziz_ftri@bau.edu.bd
1
Department of Food Technology and Rural Industries, Faculty of
Agricultural Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh Agricultural
University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh
2
Department of Process and Food Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia
3
School of Biomedical Sciences, Graham Centre for Agricultural
Innovation and ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for
Functional Grains, Charles Sturt University, Wagga
Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia
4
Laboratory of Food Physics, Institute of Food Science, Department
of Food Science and Technology, University of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Fruits are often taken fresh, but they are also processed into
various value-added products. The current market of food in-
gredients is increasing due to scientific-based formulations in
food manufacturing and the demand for creating diversity in
food products [37]. Fruits and their extracts in powder form
have potential applications as food ingredients in the prepara-
tion of different processed food products. Recent studies have
shown the use of fruit powders as carriers of probiotic cells
[51], in the preparation of chewy candies [22]; as food tablets
([4, 69, 79]; Yusofet al. 2012); and as the main raw material in
fast dispersible fruit tablets [53, 63, 72, 88].
The processing of food powders into a tablet form is eco-
nomical with respect to the conveniences of storage, transpor-
tation, and use by the customer. Like other types of food pow-
ders, fruit powders are bulky in nature and require more space
for storage and transportation. Compressing the powder up to
certain level and/or into a tablet form reduces the volume and
surface area of the fruit powder, thus reducing the chances of
rehydration and quality degradation. Even though tableting is
already an established process in the pharmaceutical and met-
allurgical industries, food tableting is rather new, and new tab-
let foods are being developed rapidly by the food industries.
Tablets can be made from powder, granules, pellets, or multi-
ple film-coated units. However, it is obvious that the powders
must have good compressibility to form tablets, and tableting
is extremely well correlated with the powder properties.

Each fruit powder has identical properties and compress-
ibility behaviors, although the powders made from same fruit
may show different compressibilities and material properties
due to processing. The information about powder compress-
ibility and properties is thus very important in the selection of
the fruit powder tablet processing parameters and processing
equipment design. Compression has a strong relationship with
dissolution and processing cost. This review discusses the
current state of understanding and recent progress in (i) fruit
powder properties, as influenced by the type and portion of the
fruit used to produce powder, the drying technique and oper-
ating parameters, and carriers used; and (ii) the tableting be-
havior of different fruit powders.
Fruit Powder
The fleshy part of the seeds and/or closely associated part of
plants that can be consumed in its raw state is termed fruit. The
consumption of fruits in their raw state is desirable to obtain
the greatest health benefit. However, due to the short shelf life
after harvest, it is not possible to have fresh fruit year round.
Processing fruits into fruit powders thus helps to prolong their
shelf life by reducing their moisture content and water activity.
Drying is a necessary and therefore vital operation in produc-
ing fruit powder. Based on the portion of the fruit to be dried,
the resultant powders could be either fruit juice powder, fruit
extract powder, or whole fruit powder.
Fruit Juice Powder
Fruit juice powder (FJP) is normally prepared by drying fruit
juice into powder. Juice is extracted from the fruit pulp, the
coarse particles are removed, the permitted additives are
added, and the juice is dried using suitable drying techniques.
Spray drying and freeze drying are the widely practiced
methods of producing fruit juice powders. However, FJPs
are categorized as sticky products, with stickiness and the
caking of powders being potential problems during storage
[14]. When fruit juices are dried by spray drying, they may
result in sticky lumps or heavy drier wall deposits [3], whereas
vacuum drying may cause the powder to become hygroscopic
and get caked and agglomerated during storage and household
use. The presence of high concentrations of amorphous mate-
rials, like low-molecular-weight sugars and organic acids, is
associated with the low glass transition temperature Tg of fruit
powders, which is the fundamental indicator of stickiness [13,
14]. Since amorphous fruit powders have relatively low Tg
values [13], they will be in a rubbery state (with a high mo-
lecular mobility) under storage conditions. Moreover, the high
molecular mobility rates allow the fruit powders to relax and
deform, with the powder particles having enough flexibility to
develop strong surface-to-surface and molecular interactions
Food Eng Rev
[27]. To overcome this technological problem, high-
molecular-weight bulk additives, such as polysaccharides,
proteins, and/or lipids, are added during the drying of sticky
products to change the mechanical state and Tg of the pro-
duced powders [75]. The high-molecular-weight biopoly-
mers, as anti-plasticizing additives, are mixed with the fruit
juices prior to the drying process. The addition of high-
molecular-weight biopolymers will result in increasing the
average glass transition of the system in a way that the dried
food powders would have a Tg greater than the storage tem-
perature, such that the food powders behave as a glass under
storage conditions, with no collapse or agglomeration during
storage [14]. The material properties of the food powders in-
fluence their flowability and compressibility, which is
discussed in the coming sections.
Fruit Extract Powder
Fruits and vegetables are good sources of pectin, polyphenols,
organic colors, dietary fibers, enzymes, flavonoids, vitamins,
and oligosaccharides. These compounds are extracted to pro-
duce enriched functional foods or medical supplements that
are marketed as functional ingredients. The techniques and
processing conditions used to produce fruit extract powders
depend on the nature of the active compounds present in the
extract. Spray drying and freeze drying are the common
methods for producing polyphenol, organic color, and flavo-
noid extract powders, with spray drying being a widely prac-
ticed technique. Irrespective of the above two methods used
for drying, the use of the carrier or coating materials is oblig-
atory to avoid problems during drying, such as adhering to the
drier wall, the development of a wet and plastic appearance,
and agglomeration and clumping in the packing container
Verma and Singh [77]. About 94 to 96% polyphenol and an-
thocyanin retention was reported by Fang and Bhandari [24]
during the spray drying of bayberry extract with maltodextrin.
A comprehensive review on the production of functional pow-
ders from fruits and vegetables was made by Jiang et al. [37],
which explored the effects of drying type and operating con-
ditions, such as the drying temperature and coating materials,
in the production of polyphenol, flavonoid, dietary fiber, ly-
copene, and pectin powders. Solar or mechanical drying can
be used without affecting the nutritional quality of dietary
fiber, as reported by Chantaro et al. [18] for carrot peel fiber
and Ajila et al. [6] for mango peel fiber.
Whole Fruit Powder
Whole fruit powder (WFP) is the dried powder from the whole
fruit after removing the inedible part (Fig. 1). Juice production
from fruits at the laboratory-scale yields only 60% of the total
weight of fruit, with the remaining 40% discarded as by-prod-
ucts, such as the peels, seeds, and part of the pulp, even though
Food Eng Rev
Fig. 1 Different types of fruit powder based on the portion of the fruit used, adopted from Gurak et al. [32]
they contain most of the nutrients and bioactive compounds of
the fruit. Current research is thus focused on either the utiliza-
tion of these co-products as valuable ingredients [8] or the
production of WFPs [32]. However, the selection of drying
techniques in producing WFP requires a degree of compro-
mise and introduces a few issues. There are some difficulties
in converting whole fruit into powder with spray drying due to
the non-functioning of the atomizer for the larger particles in
fruit pulp. In this case, solar drying, cabinet drying, and freeze
drying are the preferred methods for producing WFP.
However, even though mechanical or solar drying is a cheaper
drying method, it results in poor-quality powders with respect
to their nutritional and powder properties. Even though freeze
drying is costly, WFP production with this technique is the
best option as far as sensory, nutritional, solubility, and wetta-
bility properties are concerned. Drum drying is commonly
used to produce low-moisture baby foods and fruit powders,
and it could be the most viable technique for producing WFPs
in terms of cost-effectiveness and the quality of the fruit pow-
der produced.
Fruit Powder Properties
A description of the primary properties in a particulate system
underlies all the work in particle technology, which highlights
the key factors for maintaining the stability of the powders
during storage, handling, and transport [23]. The commonly
used material properties of fruit powders are moisture con-
tent, water activity, mean particle size, particle shape and
distribution, density, cohesiveness, flowability, and micro-
structure. These properties vary with powder type, drying
technique and operating parameters, the portion of the fruit
used to produce the powder, and the carriers used in the
drying process. The common drying techniques used for
the production of fruit powders are spray drying, drum
drying, foam-mat drying, refractance window drying,
freeze drying, and vacuum freeze drying. Spray drying,
drum drying, and freeze drying are the most widely used
methods in commercial processes. Reflectance window
drying is currently being reported as a promising drying
technique at relatively low processing temperatures and
cost, although it requires longer drying times [49]. The
major material properties of fruit powders, as influenced
by the different drying techniques and operating parame-
ters, are discussed in the following sections.
Moisture Content
Moisture content determines powder flowability, sticki-
ness, and storage stability due to its effect on T g and

crystallization behavior. It is even more critical in the case
of tableting, since it is positively correlated with bulk den-
sity and compressibility up to a certain limit (e.g., 14% for
starch derivatives) but negatively correlated with
flowability [84]. Moisture content is also a measure of
drying efficiency, and it should be < 5% to ensure the pow-
der is microbiologically safe. The employed drying tech-
niques and their operating parameters have the greatest
influence on the moisture content of fruit powders. The
drying time and quality of the final products are the major
issues that are greatly influenced by the drying techniques.
In producing mango powder to a fixed moisture level
(0.05 kg water/kg solid), spray drying achieved this mois-
ture level within a significantly shorter time (< 5 s) com-
pared to drum drying, freeze drying, and refractance win-
dow drying. However, freeze drying and refractance win-
dow drying obtained a powder color that resembled natural
pulp [15]. A recent report on vacuum spray drying of or-
ange juice found it to be faster than spray drying due to the
higher heat gradient between the steam and atomized par-
ticles, which produced a powder with a lower moisture
content than that of spray drying [36]. In the case of indi-
vidual drying techniques, the moisture content of the final
products is influenced by the operating parameters. As
discussed in a mini review by Phisut [57], the residual
moisture content of FJP produced by spray drying was
decreased with the increase in operating parameters, such
as inlet temperature, atomizer speed, and the low dextrose
equivalent of the carrier agents, and the moisture content
was increased by increasing the feed-flow rate and concen-
tration of the carrier agents. The increased inlet tempera-
ture creates a greater temperature gradient between the at-
omized feed and drying air, whereas a higher atomizer
speed creates smaller particles that facilitate a greater total
surface area for drying, thus creating powders with lower
moisture contents. Juice powders produce powders with
higher moisture contents than those of WFPs, which could
be due to the pulp and fiber content of WFP helping in the
drying process [15, 53]. According to Gurak et al. [32], the
moisture content of Jaboticaba fruit pomace powder was
much lower than that of the WFP, possibly due to the re-
moval of soluble materials with the extracted juice. There
were hardly any sugar-acid molecules except high mole-
cule fibers in the pomace, which ultimately helped in the
faster drying to the low moisture content. As discussed in
the BFruit Juice Powder^ section, fruit juice is a sticky
product due to the presence of amorphous materials, such
as low molecular sugars and organic acids, and freeze- or
vacuum-dried fruit powders are highly hygroscopic, which
contributes to increased moisture content. The hygroscop-
icity of the produced Jaboticaba juice powder decreased
remarkably with the addition of the high-molecular-
weight biopolymer like maltodextrin [32].
Food Eng Rev
Density
The density ρ of a particle is defined as its total mass divided
by its total volume, which is expressed as
m
ρ¼ ; ð1Þ
v
where m is the mass and v is the volume of the powder.
Depending on the techniques used to measure volume, the
measured particle densities are either bulk, tapped, or true
densities. The density of fruit powder plays an important role
in determining the mixing and packing properties of the pow-
der in a predetermined container, as well as formulating the
powder into tablet form.
Bulk Density Bulk density is related to the bulk voidage or
porosity of the powder and is one of the properties used to
specify certain products, like coffee powder. The bulk density
of a known mass of powder is measured by pouring the pow-
der into a graduated cylinder and recording the volume
occupied.
The bulk density ρb is
m
ρb ¼ ; ð2Þ
vb
where vb is the volume of the powder without tapping. Drying
methods have a profound effect on the bulk density of fruit
powders. As reported by Caparino et al. [15], the bulk densi-
ties of freeze- and spray-dried mango powders are low com-
pared to those of refractance window- and drum-dried mango
powders, meaning that the former powders have a higher po-
rosity. In the case of freeze drying, the juice is dried under
vacuum from solid phase (ice) to vapor phase without passing
through the liquid phase, which prevents the collapse and
shrinkage of the product, resulting in porous dried materials
[41]. The addition of maltodextrin mostly contributes to the
increase in bulk density of the mango powder produced by
spray drying, which is due to the accumulation and trapping of
air in the skin-forming maltodextrin, which finally results in
less dense and more porous particles [30]. However, the in-
crease in the concentration of maltodextrin decreased the bulk
density, as reported by Tze et al. [75] and Goula and
Adamopoulos [31]. The reasons behind the phenomena ex-
plained by Zhao et al. [89] and Phisut [57] are the minimiza-
tion of thermoplastic particles from sticking and the increased
particle sizes. The operating parameters of the individual dry-
ing techniques influence the bulk density of fruit powders to a
great extent. In the case of spray drying, the inlet temperature,
atomizer speed, and additive concentration have inverse ef-
fects on the bulk density [76], whereas the feed-flow rate has a
direct correlation on the bulk density, with a higher feed rate
yielding a greater bulk density. The effect of the air-flow rate
Food Eng Rev
depends on the moisture content of the final product, which
means that if the moisture content of the powder is high, then
the bulk density will also be high [57]. The reason for decreas-
ing the bulk density with increasing inlet temperature during
spray drying is due to the rapid drying of the droplet surface,
which in turn creates expanded and hollow particles by
forming vapor-impermeable films on the droplets [28, 73,
74, 78]. In terms of atomizer speed and additive concentration,
the development of small droplets due to the increase in the
atomizer speed, the increased inhibition ability of drying ad-
ditives in sticking to the thermoplastic particles, and the skin-
forming ability of the drying additives in entrapping air bub-
bles are the major factors that influence the bulk density [31,
42]. WFP has shown the highest bulk density among the fruit
powder types [36, 53, 67, 88]. This implies that the WFP
particles occupy larger spaces and have fewer voids than juice
and extract powders. A lower bulk density indicates more
entrapped air within the void spaces, which increases the pos-
sibility of oxidation and subsequently decreases the storage
life of the powder. Lower bulk densities also imply poor pack-
ing and the need for larger packaging volumes [45, 67], which
can have practical implications for transport costs.
Tapped Density During handling and transportation, the pow-
ders settle, resulting in an increase in bulk density. Therefore,
the tapped density is the more appropriate term to use in these
cases, which is also called increased bulk density after me-
chanical trapping. The tapped density also reveals the packing
behavior of the powders, even though it is influenced by many
other factors, including particle size and distribution, shape,
surface roughness or morphology, cohesiveness, and surface
charges [10]. The tapped density is measured by pouring a
defined mass of powder into a graduated cylinder and tapping
the cylinder until a final constant volume is achieved. The
tapped density ρt is calculated as
m
ρt ¼ ; ð3Þ
vt
where vt is the constant volume of the powder after tapping.
The bulk and flow properties of the powders are generally
influenced by the interparticulate interactions among the par-
ticles. A relative measure of these interactions is practically
assessed through a comparison of the bulk and tapped densi-
ties. This comparison is often used as an index of powder
flowability. The interparticulate interactions are less signifi-
cant for a free-flowing powder, with both densities exhibiting
considerable closure, whereas powders with a poor flowability
possess a significant difference between their bulk and the
tapped densities due to the greater interparticulate interactions
among the particles. Scientific reports related to the effects of
drying type, drying conditions, and powder type on the tapped
density are limited and inconsistent. According to
Santhalakshmy et al. [67], the inlet temperature had a
significant influence on the tapped density of spray-dried
jamun powder, with lower inlet temperatures yielding higher
tapped densities. Jamun powder exhibited the highest tapped
density at an inlet temperature of 145 °C and the lowest tapped
density at 160 °C during spray drying. Tze et al. [75] ob-
served the same phenomenon for spray-dried pitaya pow-
der, where the tapped density was reported to decrease with
increasing inlet temperature and maltodextrin concentra-
tion. As explained in the bulk density section, the high
inlet temperature creates a large cavity in the powder par-
ticles, resulting in larger sizes, which ultimately affects the
tapped density due to the high porosity of the particles. The
type of fruit powder also has a significant effect on the
tapped density, as WFP generally exhibits a higher tapped
density than juice powder. Ong et al. [53] reported that the
tapped density was mostly influenced by particle size and
shape. Studies of mango, guava, and pitaya WFPs have
shown that the particle size, and thus the tapped density,
of the guava powder was the highest [53, 88].
Flowability and Cohesiveness
Flowability and cohesiveness are two important properties of
dried particles; the former is expressed as the Carr index (CI)
[16] and the latter as the Hausner ratio (HR) [33]. The Carr
index is also used to represent the compressibility of the pow-
der, where higher values of the Carr index represent poor
flowability and high compressibility. The Carr index is calcu-
lated as
ðρt −ρb Þ
CI ¼  100: ð4Þ
ρt
The classification of powder flowability according to the
Carr index is shown in Table 1.
The Hausner ratio is defined as the ratio of the tapped
density to the bulk density and is expressed as
ρt v0
HR ¼ ¼ ; ð5Þ
ρb v n
where v0 and vn are the loose and tapped volumes, respective-
ly. The Hausner ratio is used to classify powder cohesiveness,
which is a good measure of powder consistency and
flowability. The lower the cohesiveness (lowHR), the higher
the flowability of a powder. The classification of powder co-
hesiveness, along with flow properties according to HR, is
shown in Table 1.
Specific reports that explore how different drying tech-
niques and drying parameters influence the flowability and
cohesiveness of fruit powders are limited. Yusof et al. [87]
reported that oven-dried pitaya powder had a good flowability
and low cohesion, as indicated by its HR value, whereas spray
drying yielded a poor flowability and high cohesion [75], and

Table 1 Carr index [16] for powder flowability
CI (%) Flowability Hausner ratio
< 10 Excellent 1.00–1.11
11–15 Good 1.12–1.18
16–20 Fair 1.19–1.25
21–25 Passable 1.26–1.34
26–31 Poor 1.35–1.45
32–37 Very poor 1.46–1.59
> 38 Very, very poor > 1.60
fair flowability and high cohesion were observed for freeze-
dried pitaya powder [88]. The larger sizes and irregular shapes
of the particles of the oven-dried pitaya powder, compared to
those of the spray- and freeze-dried powders, were described
as the major reasons for this variable behavior. The same trend
was reported for spray-dried jamun fruit powder [67] and wa-
termelon and carambola powders [66]. However, spray-dried
pineapple powder was reported to have good flowability and
medium cohesion, whereas mandarin yielded fair flowability
and intermediate cohesion [66]. Despite having a smaller par-
ticle size than pineapple juice powder, watermelon juice pow-
der would be expected to exhibit better powder flowability
and lower cohesion due to the aggregation of the particles.
However, the low particle size and lowest moisture content
of watermelon powder made it highly cohesive powder with a
poor flowability. Decreased electrostatic forces and strength-
ened van der Wall forces attained due to low moisture content
in the watermelon powder contributed to the poor flowability
and high cohesiveness. The high spray-drying inlet tempera-
ture and addition of maltodextrin at a ratio of 1:4 produced an
adequately free-flowing and less cohesive jamun juice powder
[67]. The same trend was reported by Tze et al. [75] for pitaya
powder produced at varying inlet temperatures and maltodex-
trin concentrations. According to Cynthia et al. [21], good-
flowing tamarind powder was produced at an inlet temper-
ature of 155 °C and a 70:30 pulp:maltodextrin ratio. When
drying whole fruits, powder flowability can vary based on
the type and ripeness of the fruit. Whole green mango
powder was reported to possess a better flowability than
ripe mango powder or a mixture of green and ripe mango
powders [53]. However, powder from whole pitaya and
guava fruits produced by freeze drying exhibited poor
flowability and high cohesion [88].
Powder flowability is greatly influenced by the surface
composition of the powder, such as moisture, protein, fat,
and fiber, with most of the reported results based on dairy
powders. According to Saifullah et al. [65], high-fiber, low-
fat pitaya powder possesses a high flowability. Despite having
same amount of fiber and protein, guava powder showed poor
flowability compared to mango fruit powder. The high fat
content of guava powder was described as the main reason
Food Eng Rev
for this difference. The same finding has been reported for
spray-dried dairy powders [40], where powder flowability
was strongly influenced by its surface composition, particu-
larly for fat-containing powders. Beside particle shape, the
esterification of pectin influences powder flowability [20],
with high methoxy pectin having a fair flowability and less
cohesion than low methoxy pectin. Bhandari [12] reported
that increased fat coverage on the surface can result in poor
wettability, reduced flowability, and increased oxidation po-
tential. Increased protein coverage also results in a change in
the surface morphology of the powder particles. For example,
a more wrinkled surface was found due to the high protein
surface coverage [81]. The coverage of particles by high-
molecular-weight compounds can reduce the hygroscopicity
and encapsulation efficiency of the volatiles and bioac-
tives [25], with the high protein concentration and dense
surface structure (crust) normally occurring during the drying
process.
Particle Size, Shape, and Distribution
Particle size, shape, and size distribution all play important
roles in the processing, handling, and shelf life of food pow-
ders, with particle microstructure being an important factor
that influences powder functionality, stability, and flowability.
They are greatly influenced by the drying process employed,
the conditions, and the powder type. Caparino et al. [15] re-
ported on the influence of freeze drying, drum drying, reflec-
tance drying, and spray drying on particle morphology, where
mango juice powders with a 180–250 μm particle size range
were compared. The particle shape of the spray-dried and
drum-dried mango powders was regular and irregular with
sharp edges, respectively, whereas smooth, flaky, and uniform
thick particle sizes were observed in case of reflectance
window-dried mango powder. The freeze-dried mango pow-
der particles were reported to be most porous among the dry-
ing techniques studied. In a study of freeze-dried tropical
fruits, Athmaselvi et al. [9] reported that the average particle
size of guava, papaya, and sapota was all very small, with
particle sizes in the 0.31–0.41 μm range. However, the sapota
juice powder exhibited free-flowing properties, whereas the
papaya powder was reported as sticky. Athmaselvi et al. [9]
attributed this stickiness due to the presence of pectic sub-
stances, whereas the free-flowing properties of the sapota
juice powder were due to a lamellar surface structure (with
flake form) and a spherical arrangement. Lowering the freez-
ing rate during the freeze-drying process of soursop fruit pulp
resulted in particles with a higher porosity and a more ordered
structure [17]. Islam et al. [36] reported that vacuum spray
drying produced orange concentrate powder with a smaller
volume distribution and a smaller average particle diameter,
which was linked to atomization at low temperatures under
vacuum conditions. However, the particle diameter increased
Food Eng Rev
with increasing maltodextrin in the feed, thus reducing the
hygroscopic and stickiness properties of the powder during
vacuum spray drying.
Reports on spray-dried fruit powder are abundant, with
most reports containing a discussion on how the spray-
drying parameters influence the particle size, distribution,
and shape of the powder. Phisut [57] and Verma and Singh
[77] critically reviewed the influence of spray-drying param-
eters on spray-dried fruits and vegetable powders. As
discussed by Phisut [57], the inlet temperature has a great
influence on the particle morphology and size of spray-dried
fruit powders. Low inlet temperatures made the surface of the
powder particles shriveled, and the surface became smooth
with increasing inlet temperature. The higher inlet tempera-
tures led to a higher drying rate, which facilitated the faster
evaporation of water, producing hard crusts and smooth sur-
faces. This discussion was based on the findings of Tonon
et al. [73] for acai juice powder and Alamilla-Beltran et al.
[7] and Nijdam and Langrish [48] for milk powder.
Another important parameter is the atomizer speed, which
influences the particle size and morphology of the fruit pow-
ders. According to Phisut [57], higher atomizer speeds result-
ed in smaller particle sizes and also prevented skinning on the
droplets. The particle size and morphology are also influenced
by the type, concentrations, and polymerization of the carrier
agents [73, 74, 85]. The increased molecular size, as well as
the increased concentration of the carrier agents, resulted in
the increased mean diameter of the powder particles. The feed
viscosity and molecular size of the polymers are the main
reasons behind this phenomenon. Similar observations were
reported by Cynthia et al. [21], where increased coating agents
resulted in larger particle sizes, ranging from 147.9 to 480 μm
for spray-dried tamarind pulp. Compared to tamarind pulp
powder, the particle size of jamun powder was very small
(145.30–463.23 nm), and the particle size increased with in-
creasing inlet temperature, as reported by Santhalakshmy et al.
[67]. However, the particles were spherical in shape, with
some degree of shrinkage when spray dried at a high inlet
temperature, compared to the smooth surface when pro-
duced at low temperatures. A similar trend was also report-
ed by Chegini and Ghobadian [19] for orange juice powder
and Lee et al. [43] and Tze et al. [75] for dragon fruit. The
feed rate and inlet temperature were positively correlated
and the atomizer speed was negatively correlated with the
particle size of spray-dried orange juice powder according
to Chegini and Ghobadian [19]. The particles of spray-
dried powders were generally spherical, with a smaller av-
erage diameter, whereas the particles of the lyophilized
powders were characterized by sharp-edged, pale-colored
particles with a larger average diameter [54].
Saikia et al. [66] observed broad variations in the particle
size distribution of four different fruit powders produced by
spray drying. According to their report, fruit juices with a low
viscosity, watermelon and pineapple, had smaller particle
sizes than those of high viscosity fruit juices, carambola and
mandarin. There were also large variations in their surface
morphology. Mandarin and pineapple powder particles were
fused and clumped together, whereas small, large spherical,
and large globular, and ellipsoidal particles were observed in
the carambola and watermelon powders.
Glass Transition
A phenomenon of changing glass into a supercooled melt
(rubber) during heating, or to the reverse transformations dur-
ing cooling, is termed glass transition, and the temperature
associated with it is called the glass transition temperature Tg.
Both glass and rubber are in a non-crystalline state. Glass
transition is a property that specifically relates to an amor-
phous material. A material in either a glassy or rubbery state
is not at thermodynamic equilibrium and therefore is unstable
relative to the crystalline form [13]. Fruit powder is amor-
phous in nature, and this state is metastable, such that its
components may undergo phase and state transitions through-
out the drying process and during storage. The most common
problem associated with the Tg of fruit powder is the sticki-
ness and caking potential at a given condition [12]. About
90% of the dry substance of fruit juice contains different
types of sugars, and their effects on the glass transition-
related changes of fruit powder are well recognized [77].
The stability of the glassy amorphous state of fruit powder
is very limited, and the storage temperature of the powder
above the Tg of an amorphous solid changes its phase from
the glassy to the rubbery state. In this state (rubbery), the
molecular mobility of the matrix and the reactants are accel-
erated, which results in an increased rate of physicochemical
changes in the fruit powders, such as sticking, collapse, cak-
ing, agglomeration, crystallization, loss of volatiles, brow-
ning, and oxidation [13]. These changes directly affect other
powder properties as well, including the flowability, com-
pressibility, and compactibility. Fan and Roos [26] reviewed
the current understanding of the glass transition, structural
relaxations, and corresponding relaxation times, as well as
their relevant applications on glassy food solids, and pro-
posed the strength S concept in controlling solid properties,
such as stickiness, caking, collapse, and crystallization. This
concept describes the solid flow characteristics and structural
transformations within mixtures of glass-forming carbohy-
drates, proteins, and other food components by using WLF
model-based analysis of τ above the calorimetric Tg [26, 46,
62]. According to Fan and Roos [26], the S concept was
developed to study non-crystalline food materials and their
solid flow properties in typical processing and storage condi-
tions, where a component or miscible components within the
food structure may experience the glass transition.
 Food Eng Rev

Compressibility of Fruit Powders plastic deformations, and/or the fragmentation of particles

Tablets are one of the important forms of pressure agglom-
erates in the pharmaceutical metallurgy, ceramic, and
chemical industries. Moreover, they are also gaining popu-
larity as a form of compact food in the food industries. The list
of foodstuffs prepared using compaction covers sweeteners,
confectioneries, dietary supplements, instant products (e.g.,
stock cubes), and functional foods [61]. Candies and several
types of food supplements produced by compaction, shown in
Fig. 2, are available in retail markets.
BTasty Hazmi^ is a salty-sour tablet that is believed to be
helpful in digestion, and is very popular to the people of
Southeast Asia. Vitamin C tablets are common dietary supple-
ments. Sweet chewable tablets, produced in a range of differ-
ent colors and sizes, are available in the Asian market. Good
tablet formation largely depends on the compressibility and
compactibility of the powders upon tableting.
Compaction Stages
The compressibility of a powder is defined as its ability to
decrease in volume under pressure, and the compactibility is
the ability of the powder materials to be compressed into a
tablet at a specified tensile strength [44]. The common steps
involved in tableting food powders are (1) rearrangement by
particle sliding, (2) elastic (reversible) and/or plastic
(irreversible) deformation, and (3) brittle fracture (irreversible
deformation) [58], as shown in Fig. 3. According to Barbosa-
Cánovas and Juliano [10], the volume reduction occurred only
by particle rearrangement, followed by elastic and/or plastic
deformation in the case of fine powders, whereas particle
fragmentation, in addition to rearrangement and formation,
is highly evident in the case of coarse or agglomerate powders
or ductile materials. A closer packing of the powder particles
occurs in the first step, serving as the main mechanism for the
initial volume reduction. The closer packing was obtained by
having the finer particles fill the voids between the larger
particles. In this stage, the energy due to friction and greater
surface area for interparticulate bonding evolved. As the pres-
sure increases, further rearrangement is prevented, and any
subsequent volume reduction is accomplished by elastic and
[35]. Elastic deformation is reversible, whereas plastic, visco-
elastic, and plastic/brittle deformations are time- and shear
rate-dependent.
Principles of Compaction
The types of tablet presses used for tableting studies are either
single-station (eccentric), multi-station (rotary), or simulator
presses. Uniaxial die compaction is a single-station cold press
widely used in tableting studies due to its simplicity in oper-
ation and data acquisition. The common features of uniaxial
presses consist of an upper punch, a lower punch, and a die as
the principle parts (Fig. 4). The basic principles of all tablet
presses are typically the same, where the process generally
consists of filling the die with loose natural or prepared pow-
der, pressing with a desire pressure, releasing the pressure, and
ejecting the tablet from the die.
In uniaxial die compaction, the powder is fed into the
die cavity, and the load is applied to the upper puncher that
moves down to compress the powder while the bottom
punch is kept stationery. The punch movement is given
by an eccentric mechanism driven by an electric motor or
by using a universal testing machine. The tablet ejection is
carried out by a mechanism that operates the lower puncher
via a lifting block.
Compaction Modeling
The visualization of the particle movement at different stages
of compaction, as shown in Fig. 3, is usually expressed in the
form of compaction curves. A compaction curve typically
contains several distinct regions where the density or volume
reduction is plotted against the logarithm of compaction pres-
sure used, which acts as the driving force to develop several
models to fit the curves. These equations are normally used to
characterize the overall compaction process, as well as the
compressibility and compactibility of the powder [58].
Powders are classified into different groups with respect to
the stages of the particle rearrangement, particle fragmenta-
tion, and particle plastic deformation during compression
using three primary compaction equations, Kawakita and

Fig. 2 Examples of food

supplements and chewable
candies that are produced by
compaction and available in retail
markets

Tasty Hazmi (chewable tablet) Ceevit (Vitamin C tablet) Sweet chewable candy
Food Eng Rev
Fig. 3 Stages of compaction, adopted from Abdel-Hamid [1]
Lüdde [38], Heckel [34], and Shapiro [70], following a pro-
tocol proposed by Nordström et al. [50]. About 20 equations
have been listed for describing compressive behavior of dif-
ferent powders. However, the Kawakita and Lüdde, Heckel,
and Shapiro equations are widely used in the pharmaceutical
industry. Most research reports also used these equations to
describe the compressive behavior of food powders. The com-
paction equations used to describe the compressive behavior
of different fruit/food powders are described in the sections
below and also summarized in Table 2.
Kawakita and Lüdde Model The Kawakita equation relates the
degree of volume reduction for a powder column to the ap-
plied pressure of the system [39], which is defined as
V 0 −V abP ρ ∈0− ∈p
C¼ ¼ ¼ 1− 0 ¼ ; ð6Þ
V0 1 þ bP ρp 1−∈p
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of uniaxial die compression, adopted from
Yusof et al. [87]
where C is the degree of volume reduction, P is the compac-
tion pressure, V0 is the initial at P, a and b are constants, ρp is
the apparent density at P, ϵ0is the porosity at the bulk state, and
ϵp is the porosity at P.
The rearrangement of Eq. 6, proposed by Kawakita and
Lüdde [38], becomes
P 1 P
¼ þ ; ð7Þ
C ab a
where the constant a represents the initial bed porosity, max-
imum volume reduction, or initial packing, thus describing the
compressibility of the powder, and the constant b is related to
resistance force or volume reduction tendency of the powder,
thus describing the cohesiveness of the powder. This equation
yields the best fit for soft fluffy pharmaceutical powders dur-
ing the early phase of particle rearrangement and compaction
at low pressures.
The application of the Kawakita and Lüdde equation to
assess the flowability and compressibility of fruit powders,
including other food powders, is shown in Table 2. The con-
stants a and b for chebula fruit extract and its formulation were
compared by Prakash et al. [60], who revealed that chebula
fruit extract has poor flowability and compressibility.
However, they showed that the cohesiveness was reduced
and compressibility was improved when a 75:25 formulation
of fruit extract powder to Avicel pH101 was compressed into
tablets [60]. Avicel is a commercial free-flowing microcrys-
talline cellulose binder that decreases the porosity by coating
small fruit particles and increases the bulk density by reducing
the interparticle friction. Yusof et al. [87] reported a lower
value of a and a higher value of b of pitaya fruit powder
compared to maltodextrin, which revealed pitaya powder as
a highly cohesive powder with less flowability and compress-
ibility. However, when the maltodextrin level was increased in
the pitaya powder, the porosity was also increased due to the
presence of free-flowing maltodextrin within the small parti-
cles of the pitaya powder. This behavior of increasing porosity
with increasing binder concentration has also been reported by
other researchers studying on pitaya and guava powders, both
individually and in a binary mixture [88]; green mango and
ripe mango powders, both individually and in a binary mix-
ture [53]; and maize powder [86]. According to [88], guava
powder possessed the highest a value, followed by the binary
mixture, and then the pitaya powder, indicating the highest
initial porosity and compressibility of guava powder and the
lowest values for the pitaya powder, with binary mixture
possessing values that were in between. The porosity of
guava-pitaya mixture increased due to the larger particle size
of the guava powder. There is a direct relation between a and
1/b, which means that a degree of compression is achieved by
the applied pressure. A higher pressure is therefore necessary
to prepare guava tablets compared to the pitaya and mixed
 Food Eng Rev

Table 2 Tableting of fruit/food powders

SL. No. Powder source Mixture type Model used Parameters studied Key compression behavior References

1. Pitaya Single Kawakita and Lüdde a and b Low a and high b indicate highly [87]
cohesive powder; low flowability.
2. Sweet potato Binary None Plastic and elastic Plastic deformation in stevia is [69]
and stevia work greater than in sweet potato
powder.
3. Sago starch Single Heckel and Kawakita A, K, Py, a, and b Pre-gelatinization improves [79]
compressibility.
4. Date and spirulina Binary None Hardness Force of 10 tons produced [4]
optimum tablet.
5. Rice starch Single Heckel and Kawakita A, K, Py, a, and b Deforms by plastic deformation. [5]
6. Yam, corn, Single Heckel and Kawakita A, K, Py, a, and [2]
and rice
7. Wheat meal Single Heckel, Kawakita, Lordi Fitted model to Moisture content of wheat meal [71]
et al., Ferraro et al., moisture content fits the compaction models
and Feborode-and- linearly.
O’Callaghan
8. Milk and coffee Single Peleg C1, K1, and K2 Four-parameter model is the best [83]
to the describe compression
characteristics of the selected
food powders.
9. Mango Single and binary Kawakita and Heckel A, K, Py, a, and b Green mango powder is poorly [53]
compressible compared to ripe
and mixed mango fruit powders.
10. Guava and pitaya Single and binary Kawakita and Heckel A, K, Py, a, and b Guava powder is poorly [88]
compressible, whereas pitaya
powder is highly cohesive.
11. Instant coffee Single Four-parameter model Good model descriptor for [52]
agglomerate food powder
compression.
12. Terminalia chebula Formulated powder Kawakita, Heckel, a and b; A, K, and Formulated powder with fruit [60]
fruit and Leuenberger Py; γ and σmax extract showed reduced
cohesiveness and improved
flowability.

fruit tablets. According to Ong et al. [53], green mango pow-
der showed a higher a value and was thus more compressible
compared to ripe mango powder and the mixed fruit powder.
However, improved compressibility of the mixed fruit powder
was obtained when effervescent agents were added to the
tablets, which was explained as a decrease in initial porosity
due to the mixed fruit powder pores being occupied by the
smaller disintegrant agent particles [53], which is in agree-
ment with the findings reported by Podczeck and Sharma
[59]. According to Skonecki et al.[71], a values were found
to be stable across a wide range of wheat powder moisture
contents, and the b value was the highest at a moisture content
of 18% for wheat powder. However, due to the presence of
considerable variations between the experimental and predict-
ed model data, the authors concluded that the Kawakita and
Lüdde model provided the best fit, with a limited use for
biological materials. According to Adedokun and Itiola [2],
pre-gelatinized starches exhibited a lower a value and a higher
b value compared to native starches, where four grain starches
were compared. The same findings were reported by Widodo
and Hassan [79] for different pre-gelatinized sago starches.
The mean diameter and porosity of pre-gelatinized sago starch
were increased, but its densities decreased significantly.
Heckel Model Densification of the powder column with pres-
sure was modeled by Heckel [34], following the first-order
kinetics that relate the powder relative density, such that
1
ln ¼ kP þ A; ð8Þ
ð1−DÞ
where P is the compaction pressure, D is the relative density at
a given P, and k and A are constants. A plot of ln1/(1 − D)
versus P is usually referred to as the Heckel plot, with the
intercept of the straight line fits to the linear part of the plot
yielding the parameter A, which indicates the initial volume
reduction of the powder bed due to the process of die filling
and particle rearrangement (no deformation occurs in this
stage). The gradient of the Heckel plot k gives the plasticity
of the materials, such that the greater the value of k, the more
plastic the material. The value of k also relates to the yield
strength, and the reciprocal of k has been defined as the mean
Food Eng Rev
yield pressure, which has been used for the comparison of
properties between different materials. The Heckel equation
gives the best fit at intermediate to high pressures and low
porosity in comparison to Kawakita and Lüdde equation,
which fits well at low pressures and high porosity. This equa-
tion has been extensively studied for characterizing the com-
paction of pharmaceutical and ceramic powders. A list of re-
ports on the characterization of food powder compaction
using the Heckel equation is presented in Table 2. Heckel
analysis of ripe and green mango powders and their binary
mixture was reported to be linear at the early stages of com-
pression and highly plastic and compressible when the ripe
mango powder was tableted compared to green mango pow-
der and their binary mixture, as revealed from their k values on
the Heckel plots [53]. This result has been related to the var-
iation in particle size and porosity among the powders, which
is in agreement with other reports [2, 59]. The same behavior
was reported by Zea et al. [88], who used guava, pitaya, and
their binary mixture in their analysis. However, despite having
the larger particle size in the binary powder mixture, the k
value of the guava powder was quite close to that of the mixed
powder, which was interpreted to be due to the variation in
moisture content and agglomeration during the mixing of the
fruit powders. Heckel analysis of the compression of Assam
Boro rice starch was reported to yield good fits, where it was
found to be highly compressible compared to commercial
starch that was studied and deformed by plastic deformation
[5]. A strong linearity, indicating dominant plastic deforma-
tion during the evaluation of the pre-gelatinized sago starch
using Heckel analysis, was also reported by Widodo and
Hassan [79]. The pre-gelatinized starch possessed a low yield
strength Py, which was indicated by the high plasticity of the
starch in its pre-gelatinized form compared to the fresh starch.
Similar findings were reported by Adedokun and Itiola [2] for
yam, rice, and corn starch powders that were evaluated using
the Heckel model. Heckel model evaluation of chebula pow-
der at granular or direct formulation did not show any linearity
in the early stage of compression, yielding a higher A value,
which suggested compression due to die filling and particle
rearrangement. The A value of the granule was higher, which
indicated defragmentation and rearrangement of the granules
at low pressure. At high pressures, Heckel plot evaluation of
the chebula powder showed a strong linear relationship, sug-
gesting a highly plastic and compressible powder in its gran-
ular form, which was also confirmed by its low Py value [60].
The evaluation of wheat flour due to changes in moisture
content by Heckel plot analysis provided a good fit within
the moisture content range of 10 to 16%, with increasing
moisture content yielding an increase in k value, which relates
to a decreased compressibility of the material [71]. The effec-
tive deformability of amorphous lactose particles was investi-
gated by Berggren et al. [11] using the Heckel number, where
they reported that the addition of stabilizing polymers or
surfactants modulated the compressibility and tablet-forming
ability of the amorphous lactose particles by changing the bulk
or particle surface properties.
Sone’s Compressibility Model The mechanism of powder de-
formation without particle yield or breakage is the best candi-
date for using Sone’s compressibility, with the model con-
stants related to the powder characteristics providing a clear
sense of the mechanical behavior of a given powder, which is
expressed as
ρb −ρb0
Y ð σÞ ¼ ¼ C 1 þ C 2 logσ; ð9Þ
ρb0
where Y(σ) is the density or volume fraction, ρb is the bulk
density under compression σ, ρb0 is the bulk density before
compression, and C1 and C2 are characteristic constants of
the powder, with C1 representing the value of Y(σ) at a unit
stress and C 2 (known as the compressibility index)
representing the change in relative density with the applied
stress [56]. The natural logarithm gives a better reflection
of the compression characteristics of the food powder,
where the density function Y(σ) is expressed as a function
of the porosity ϵ, such that
1−ϵ ¼ a þ blnσ; ð10Þ
where a is a constant and b is the compressibility index.
Data from confined uniaxial confined tests, analyzed using
the above models to evaluate the compressibility of food
powders, including fine salt, fine sucrose, corn starch, baby
formula, coffee creamer, soup mix, baker’s yeast, milk
powder, ground coffee, ground corn, corn meal, lactose,
and flour, were compiled by Barbosa-Cánovas and
Juliano [10]. The compressibility of many of the above
powders was shown to be correlated with the internal co-
hesion C and with particle deformability to an extent, and
that high compressibility was related to low flowability
[55, 68].
Four-Parameter Model The stress-strain relationship be-
tween cellular materials could be described clearly using
three- or four-parameter models and have been proven suc-
cessful in describing sigmoidal deformation over the full
compression region. Swyngedau’s model fits food powder
compression data well for instant agglomerated coffee, in-
stant agglomerated low-fat (2%) milk, and instant agglom-
erated nonfat milk after confined uniaxial compression [52,
82], which is defined as
F ¼ A1 δB1 þ A2 δB2 ; ð11Þ
where F is the compressive force, δ is the deformation length
unit, and A and B are constants. A is in units of force over
deformation length, and B is dimensionless. B1 (≤ 1) is a

measure of the downward concavity of the force-deformation
curve at lower deformation, whereas B2 (> 1) is a measure of
the upward concavity of the curve at higher deformation [10].
The typical force-deformation curves obtained from the ex-
perimental data represent three phases, which explain the three
steps of the compression mechanism and fit the above four-
parameter model well.
Compression Versus Dissolution
Aqueous solubility/dissolution is an important property for
using tablets as ready-to-serve juices and refreshment
drinks. From the consumer point of view, easy, rapid, and
complete dissolution is expected, with its performance be-
ing a major quality indicator of the food tablet [47].
Powder compressibility and the compaction force used to
form the tablets have direct influences on their friability,
hardness, and disintegration time. According to Adiba
et al. [4], tablets made with 10 t-strength (where 1 t-
strength = 9.81 kN) possessed an acceptable degree of fri-
ability. The tablets became very friable at lower forces,
whereas they were excessively harder above this force,
with the required time for dissolution increasing as a func-
tion of tablet hardness. However, Yusof et al. [87] reported
that the maximum allowable load of 10 ± 1 kN was re-
quired on the uniaxial die to form pitaya tablets using the
Instron Universal Testing 5566 machine (Instron Machine,
Canton, MA). This force was about ten times (~ 1 t-
strength) lower than that reported by Adiba et al. [4].
Powders with larger particle sizes should theoretically
form tablets with higher porosity, such that the rate of tab-
let dissolution should increase with increasing porosity
Saifullah et al. [65]. However, fine powders normally
formed more compact tablets that exhibited slower disso-
lution rates due to the insufficient contacts between the
dissolution medium and the tablet particles. According to
Ong et al. [53], green mango powder particles take longer
to dissolve, even though they are larger in size and possess
a higher porosity, which is likely due to the required ex-
cessive force to form the tablets, thus making them harder
and reducing the ability of the dissolution media to pene-
trate into the tablet for swelling and disintegration. Guava
tablets showed the same dissolution behavior due to the
same reason reported by Zea et al. [88]. As the moisture
content and water activity of fruit powders increased, the
tablets became harder with the same applied force and also
took longer to dissolve [4]. Dissolution is also strongly
associated with the tablet ingredients, chemical composi-
tion of powders, and dissolution media. Beside fruit pow-
der, disintegrants, sugars, fillers, and organic acids are the
common ingredients used in fruit tablets. Effervescent
agents, which act as disintegrants, have a strong influence
on tablet dissolution, with the quickest dissolution reported
Food Eng Rev
when the effervescent tablets are dissolved in simulated
saliva fluid [53, 63–65, 72]. Tablets that possess similar
particle sizes, ingredients, and dissolution media but dif-
ferent chemical compositions, such as moisture, protein,
and fat, were reported to yield different dissolution kinetics
[64]. According to Barbosa-Cánovas and Juliano [10], the
presence of free fat on the powder particle surface reduced
the wettability of the powder, thus yielding tablets with a
low dissolubility. There are several processes involved in
the dissolution of solid or powder materials, such as wet-
ting, swelling, sinking, and dispersion. In the case of fruit
tablets containing disintegrants, the common dissolution
phenomena observed are the swelling and subsequent sur-
face erosion of the tablets.
Conclusion
Fruits and their extracts in powder form have many poten-
tial applications as foods and food ingredients. However,
food/fruit powders in the form of tablets, such as sweet-
eners, confectioneries, dietary supplements, instant prod-
ucts (e.g., stock cubes), and functional foods are also
gaining popularity in the food industries due to their eco-
nomic methods of production, as well as providing conve-
nience to consumers. The compressibility of the powder is
an important attribute in forming food tablets, which most-
ly depends on the physico-chemical properties of the pow-
der, such as moisture content, water activity, particle den-
sity, particle size and shape, and flowability. High-
moisture powder is less flowable but highly compressible
and less disintegrable. Powders with larger particle size
have higher bulk densities, which inversely affect the com-
pressibility. There are many models used to assess the
compressibility and compactibility of food powders. The
most used models in studying the compressibility charac-
teristics of fruit powders reported in the literature are the
Kawakita and Lüdde, the Heckel, Sone’s, and the four-
parameter models. Since food powders are highly cohe-
sive, the four-parameter model is found to be best-suited
for sigmoidal compression deformation data. However, the
Kawakita and Lüdde model and Heckel equation are wide-
ly used to assess the compressibility and compactibility of
fruit powders. From a technological point of view, fruit
powder in its compact form is an excellent alternative for
overcoming the problems associated with post-processing
handling, packaging, and the storage of fruit powders.
Powders in tablet form will be less hygroscopic due to
the reduction in surface area, which also results in reduced
packaging and transportation costs and increased storage
shelf life, thus providing convenience and affordable
prices to consumers at all levels.
Food Eng Rev
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