Application of drying acceleration to study the forms of moisture bond in currant fruits

Abstract

The article discusses issues related to the study of the forms of connection of moisture removed during the drying process in black currant fruits. A study was carried out to determine the quantitative moisture content of various forms of communication by two methods and a comparative analysis was carried out. It is shown that the existing methods for studying the forms of moisture-material bonding have significant drawbacks and generally give a qualitative assessment of the state of moisture in the material or are very laborious and require long-term laboratory studies. The efficiency of the approach to determining the forms of moisture connection in black currant fruits is shown on the basis of graphical-analytical analysis of the drying kinetics, which allows qualitatively and quantitatively assessing the state of moisture in the fruits. With the help of a graphical editor, the curves of the drying kinetics of black currant fruits were processed and the dependences of the quantity called "drying acceleration" characterizing the rapidity of the change in the drying rate of currant fruits on the moisture content of the product were obtained. The analysis of the obtained curves is carried out, indicating the presence of extrema and points of inflection to the corresponding critical moisture content, as well as the presence of areas with a slowdown or acceleration of the drying rate change, allowing to establish the intervals of moisture removal with different binding energies. The approach under consideration makes it possible to give a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the physical state of moisture not only in currant fruits, but also in other food products, as well as reduce the time for analysis and improve the accuracy of the results.