Modeling of water activity, oxygen solubility and density of sugar and sugar alcohol solutions

Abstract

Water activity, oxygen solubility and density of aqueous solutions of sugar and sugar alcohols have been modeled with the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT). The modeling is accomplished by extending the previously developed method to determine the SAFT parameters for sugar and sugar alcohols. For the aqueous solutions of sorbitol/water, xylitol/water, mannitol/water, xylitol/sorbitol/water and xylitol/mannitol/water, the water activity has been predicted. The solubilities of oxygen in water and in aqueous solutions of glucose/water, fructose/water, sucrose/water, maltose/water and mannitol/water have been modeled. The density predictions for mannitol/sucrose/water, mannitol/sorbitol/water and mannitol/sorbitol/sucrose/water have been carried out. All the modeling results show that, by using the previously developed method to determine the SAFT parameters, the SAFT model has been able to model the water activity, oxygen solubility and density with very good accuracy, and the SAFT model can be taken as a suitable tool for describing sugar and sugar containing solutions.