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Drying Accelerators to Enhance Processing and Properties: Ethanol, Isopropanol, Acetone and Acetic Acid as Pre-treatments to Convective Drying of Pumpkin

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Abstract

Different drying accelerators were studied to improve vegetable drying: acetone (AC), ethanol (ET), isopropanol (ISO) and acetic acid (AA). Pre-treatments were performed by immersion of pumpkin cylinders. Convective drying was performed at 40 °C and air velocity 1 m/s. Different aspects were evaluated: drying kinetics, structural changes (microstructure and macrostructure), thermal profile and viscoelastic and rehydration behaviours. The microstructure was modified by pre-treatments, being more pronounced with AC and AA. Thinner cell walls, changes on turgor and extraction of components and air were reported, affecting the mass transfer. Moreover, the microstructural changes reinforced anisotropy and also affected the macrostructure, changing the viscoelastic behaviour. All pre-treatments resulted in a super-diffusive behaviour, decreasing the drying time from 9% (ISO) to 22% (AC). Possible relations were discussed among the compounds’ physical properties, sample temperature profile, drying kinetics and equilibrium moisture. Rehydration was improved by ET and ISO, but impaired by AA. Although AC accelerates drying, it did not affect the rehydration. The viscoelasticity reflected the structure and composition, with the pre-treatments with higher structure modifications (AA and AC) losing elastic properties. In conclusion, the pre-treatments with isopropanol and ethanol showed better results, improving drying and rehydration, and are thus recommended.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Brazil) for funding project n° 2019/05043-6, the GR Carvalho post-doctoral fellowship (2018/17844-0) and the I Silveira BSc scholarship (2019/19307-5); to the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil) for the productivity grant of PED Augusto (306557/2017-7); and to the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico, Tecnológico y de Innovación Tecnológica (FONDECYT, Peru) from the “Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica” (CONCYTEC, Peru) for funding project n° 409-2019-FONDECYT.

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Author notes

  1. Gisandro Reis Carvalho and Meliza Lindsay Rojas are joint first authors and equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agri-food Industry, Food and Nutrition (LAN), Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ), University of São Paulo (USP), Av. Pádua Dias, 11, Agronomia, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil

    Gisandro Reis Carvalho, Isabela Silveira & Pedro Esteves Duarte Augusto

  2. Dirección de Investigación y Desarrollo, Universidad Privada del Norte (UPN), Trujillo, Peru

    Meliza Lindsay Rojas

  3. Food and Nutrition Research Center (NAPAN), University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil

    Pedro Esteves Duarte Augusto

Authors
  1. Gisandro Reis Carvalho
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  2. Meliza Lindsay Rojas
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  3. Isabela Silveira
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  4. Pedro Esteves Duarte Augusto
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Correspondence to Gisandro Reis Carvalho.

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Highlights

• Drying accelerators were evaluated to enhance the process and the properties of pumpkin.

• Pre-treatments promoted structural changes in the product, reflecting on stress-relaxation behaviour.

• The structural changes modified drying and rehydration.

• Drying time was reduced from 9 to 22% depending on the compound used.

• Ethanol and isopropanol accelerated rehydration and increased the absorbed water.

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Carvalho, G.R., Rojas, M.L., Silveira, I. et al. Drying Accelerators to Enhance Processing and Properties: Ethanol, Isopropanol, Acetone and Acetic Acid as Pre-treatments to Convective Drying of Pumpkin. Food Bioprocess Technol 13, 1984–1996 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-020-02542-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-020-02542-6

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