Drying and dehydration

• Drying – the removal of nearly all the water present through

vaporization is called drying. It is removal of a moisture to a
pre-determined level.

• Dehydration – is the complete removal of moisture to a bone dry

weight.

• Bone dried material is one from which all the moisture has been
removed

• Drying is a thermo physical & physico-chemical action and its

dynamic principles are governed by heat and mass transfer
 Importance of drying
1. By reducing the moisture content bacterial or enzymatic action
is reduced which lowers down product deterioration and helps
in long period storage

2. There is reduction of bulk, in order to lower the handling &

transportation cost

3. Certain products with greater economic value are produced

4. The dried products can be utilized for many food manufacturing

operations.
 In general types of water in food
Water is present in abundant in all living things and food items
Natural food items contain up to 70% of water by weight or even
greater unless they are dried
Fruits & vegetables contain up to 95 % water or even greater
Types of water in general
1. Free water
2. Bound water
3. Entrapped water
Free water – water that can be easily removed from foods by
squeezing or cutting or pressing is called free water. This water
behaves like liquid water.
 Contd...
Bound water – some food constituents can bind water or hold water
molecules, which cannot be removed easily and this water do not
behave like liquid water is called bound water
Some characteristics of bound water
– It is not free to act as a solvent for salts and sugars
– It can be frozen only at a very low temperatures
– It exhibits essentially no vapour pressure
– Its density is greater than that of free water
Bound has more structural bonding than free water, thus it is unable to
act as a solvent. Even after drying food contains bound water.
Entrapped water – water may also be entrapped in foods such as pectin
gels, fruits, vegetables etc. entrapped water is held in capillaries or
cells, but if released during cutting or damage it flows freely.
Entrapped water has properties of free water and no properties of
bound water
Freshness of any food item is evaluated by the presence of water in it.
 Moisture and its removal
• During drying the moisture from solids gets vaporized & diffused in
dilute environment
• Removal of moisture takes place by high pressure or temperature
conditions
• Finally product is dried to a pre-determined moisture level
 Moisture and its removal
Drying involves:-
1. Vaporization of moisture from the surface of the material
2. Movement of moisture from internal parts of material to its surface

Movement of moisture takes place because of :-

3. Diffusion
4. Cell contraction
5. Vapour pressure gradient
 EMC – Equilibrium moisture content
• When a wet product is brought into contact with air of lower
humidity product will lose moisture
• When the dry product is brought into contact with air of higher
humidity product will gain moisture
• Above two phenomenon takes place till equilibrium is attained
• Some amount of moisture remain in food, no matter how long drying
continues if the drying air conditions do not change
• The moisture in solid with equilibrium to the surrounding air is called
EMC
• The humidity of air corresponding to EMC at which it neither gains
nor loose moisture is called ERH
 Basis of moisture content representation
Moisture content in a food is given on the basis of the weight of water
present in the product and is usually expressed as %. Moisture content
is designated by two methods as:-

Thus the value of moisture content on dry basis is more than the wet
basis.
 Numerical
1. 100 kg of food sample is having 60% Moisture content on wet
basis. Calculate its moisture content on dry basis.
2. 500 kg of paddy at 22 % MC wet basis is dried to 14 % MC wet
basis for milling. Calculate the amount of moisture removed in
drying?
3. Potato flakes (moisture content 75% wb) are being dried in a
concurrent flow drier. It was found that 70 % of the original
water has been removed in a dryer. What is the moisture content
in dried potato flakes on dry basis?
4. 10 g of semi dried food product sample when kept in an hot air
oven gives 7.56 g of dry matter. Calculate the moisture content
on dry basis & wet basis in the sample?
 Drying rate periods
1. Constant rate period
 Drying rate periods
The convection drying process can be divided into three periods. The
drying rate is a function of product moisture content.
Drying period rates are shown in graph. The period up to C as shown in
graph is called as constant rate period. In this period the moist surface
of the product behaves like a free water surface.
This period continues till the rate of evaporation of water from the
surface is equal to the rate of moisture migration from interior of
product to its surface.
The constant drying period continues till critical moisture content is
reached. The critical moisture content is dependent on product and its
thickness.
The temperature of food product lies at its wet bulb temperature during
this peroid
 Contd…
First Falling rate period:-
• The period F1 is known as the first falling rate period. In this
period because of decrease in wet surface area the drying rate
decreases. As drying proceeds the fraction of wet surface
decreases to zero, where F1 ends.
• The temperature of the food surface starts increasing and is no
long at wet bulb temperature, so heat denaturation may occur in
this period depending on the product
• At the end of first falling rate period (F1) second falling rate
period (F2) starts.
Second Falling rate period:-
In this period subsurface evaporation takes place and it continues
until the equilibrium moisture content is reached.
 Contd…
During the drying process, movement of moisture inside a porous
product takes place due to:-
– Capillary flow
– Liquid diffusion
– Surface diffusion
– Vapour diffusion
– Thermal diffusion
– Hydrodynamic flow
 Drying rate periods
Removal of moisture greatly depends upon the atmospheric conditions
and not on type of product. During constant period rate, the moisture
migration rate from inside the product to its surface is equal to the rate
of evaporation of water from surface. Drying of sand and washed
seeds take place in constant rate period.

Critical Moisture content

After the constant rate, the drying proceeds in falling rate period. In
between the constant and falling rate periods lies the critical moisture
content of the product. The moisture content of product from
where constant rate drying ceases and falling rate starts is called
critical moisture content.
 Numerical
Moisture ratio (MR)