A Research Note

Determination of Mass Diffusivity of Simple Sugars in Water

by the Rotating Disk Method
G. R. ZIEGLER, A. L. BENADO, and S. S. H. RIZVI

ABSTRACT
The rotating disk method is shown to be an accuratemethod for de-
termining the mass diffusivity of solid food componentsin liquid
solutions. The diffusivities of sucroseand glucosein water were de-
termined to be 0.50 and 0.66 (m%ec X 109)at 25°C with activation
energiesof 36.3 and 31.6 Id/g-mol, respectively.

INTRODUCTION
THE DESIGN and analysis of mass transfer operations re-
quires knowledge of the diffusion coefficients of the compo-
nents under consideration. These diffusion coefficients are often
estimated from correlations, e.g. the Wilke-Chang for small
molecules or Stokes-Einstein form for macromolecules. Ap-
plication of these types of correlations to food systems may
result in very crude estimates of diffusivity, since they do not Fig. l-Schematic of the rotating disk apparatus.
account for the effects of important parameters such as pH and
ionic strength on the interactions between the solute and sol-
vent. Experimental methods, especially those that allow the
determination of diffusivities of a solute in the particular sol-
vent of interest and at the appropriate temperature, are pref-
erable to empirical correlations. One such method is the rotating
disk, which has been used to measure the diffusivity of I-
naphthol in water (Boume and Tovstiga, 1985).

Theory
If a food component is (a) solid at the temperature of inter-
est, and (b) can be formed into the shape of a disk, then its
integral diffusivity in any solvent may be determined by ro-
tating that disk in the solvent and following its rate of weight
loss (or concentration gain in solution).
The rotating disk method involves following the dissolution
of a partially soluble substance from a disk of area A rotating
at an angular velocity w in a mass M of solution. If x’ is the
mass fraction of solute in solution at any time t’ and x* is the
same quantity at saturation, the mass transfer coefficient k of
a solute dissolving into the liquid may be macroscopically mea-
sured by following the mass fraction of solute in the solution
as a function of time (Boume and Tovstiga, 1985).

M$ = kA(x*-x’) (1)
which when integrated from x’ = 0 to x and t’ = 0 to t yields,

k = s In (1 - s) l/T (X103) OK-’

Fig. 2-Arrhenius plot showing the temperature dependence of
If molecular diffusion controls the dissolution rate, and if the the mass diffusivity of sucrose (0) and glucose (0) in water for
the temperature range 5-30°C.
Schmidt number (SC = k/pD where p. is the viscosity, p is
the density, and D the diffusion coefficient) is greater than
100, then the mass transfer coefficient from a rotating disk
follows the relation (Levich, 1962; Newman, 1973),
Authors Ziegler, Benado, and Rizvi are with the Institute of Food 0.6205 PD*‘~@*
Science, Co;nejl Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853.
k = d/6 (1 + 0.298 SC-‘/~ + 0.014515 SC-~~) (3)

Volume 52, No. 2, 1987-JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE-501

MASS DlFFUSlVlTY OF SIMPLE SUGARS. .
where u = @p. Eq. (3) can be solved for D as,
-0.2980ku-‘/6 - (O.O888k%-If3
+ 2.482po’i2kv1’6 - &05804k%- “3)1’2
D=[
0.02902kv 1/Z - 1.241p0”~
I3 (4)
Thus if the viscosity and density of the solution are known or
measured, and if the mass transfer coefficient is measured, the
diffusivity of the component of interest in a solvent can be
computed. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rotating
disk method for determining mass diffusivity, and present a
simplified equation for the calculation of diffusivity from mass
transfer data using sucrose/water and glucose/water as model
food systems.
MATERIALS & METHODS
Disk preparation
Glucose disks were prepared by melting pure anhydrous glucose
and pouring the molten mass into a 66 m diameter X 8 mm high
mold. After pouring, the molds were hardened in a - 18°C freezer
and stored in a dessicator until used.
Sucrose disks were prepared by dissolving 50g of a mixture of 95%
sucrose and 5% 42 DE corn syrup solids into approximately 25g water.
The solution obtained was then boiled (sucrose decomposes if heated
directly) until the temperature reached 16O”C, poured into the mold,
hardened in the freezer and stored as were the glucose disks. Corn
syrup solids were added to the sucrose disks to prevent crystal growth,
maintaining the sucrose in an amorphous form. This was necessary
because for highly crystalline sucrose dissolution occurred at crystal
boundaries and entire crystals would then separate from the disk.
Measurement procedure
The experimental apparatus is shown schematically in Fig. 1. Two
holes, equally spaced from the center, were drilled in the disks which
were then bolted onto a specially modified steel nut and screwed onto
the end of the stirring shaft. The shaft was rotated at 500 rpm (mea-
sured by an electronic tachometer) using a MagneDrive II driven by
a belt attached to a variable speed motor (Autoclave Engineers, Erie,
PA).
A jacketed stainless steel vessel was filled with a pm-weighed amount
(approximately 600g) of water and maintained at the desired temper-
ature by means of a circulating ethylene glycol/water bath (Haake
Model A81). The vessel was raised using a lab jack, and a timer
started when the rotating disk was completely covered with fluid. The
test duration was 2 minutes, after which the vessel was lowered and
a 20 mL sample of fluid was removed. This sample was placed in a
tared beaker, weighed and concentrated by evaporating a portion of
the water in a microwave oven until less than 2 mL remained. Sugar
concentration in the concentrated sample was measured using a Bausch
and Lomb temperature compensated refractometer. Sugar concentra-
DETM OF TBA REACTIVE SUBSTANCES. . .From page 500
Sinnhuber, R.O. and Yu, T.C,, 1958, 2-Thiobarbituric acid method for the
measurement of rancidity m fishery roducts. 2. The quantitative de-
termination of malonaldehyde. Food lpechnol. 12: 9.
Sinnhuber, R.O. Yu, T.C., and Yu, T.C. 1958. Characterization of the red
pigment formed in the 2-thiobarbituric acid determination of oxidative
rancidity. Food Res 23: 626.
Spillman, D.M. 1981. The effects of feeding regime, vacuum packaging
and agmg on the organoleptic quality, physical characteristics and thia-
502-JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE-Volume 52, No. 2, 1987
tion in the original sample was then determined by back calculation.
Experiments were conducted at 5”, lo”, 15”, 20”, 25’!$, and 30°C (2
replicates at each temperature) as measured directly in the solvent
using a mercury thermometer. Physical properties of the solution were
taken from the literature (Reid et al., 1977) as the physical properties
of pure water since sugar concentration never exceeded 4%. Equli-
brium concentrations were obtained from the International Critical
Tables of Numerical Data (Bates et al., 1927). Mass transfer areas
were calculated as the arithmetic mean of the surface area of the disk
before and after each experiment. From these data, all of the param-
eters in Eq. (4) are known and the diffusion coefficients could be
calculated.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
VALUES of diffusivity at 25°C as determined b the rotating
disk method were 0.50 and 0.66 (m21sec x 10B) for sucrose
and glucose in water, respectively, which compares favorably
to reported values of 0.54 and 0.69 (m2/sec x 109) for the
diffusivities of sucrose and glucose at infinite dilution in water
at 25°C (Chandrasekaran and King, 1972). Arrhenius plots
showing the temperature dependence of the mass diffusivities
are presented in Fig. 2. Activation energies calculated from
the slopes in Fig. 2 are 36.3 and 31.6 kJ/g-mol for sucrose
and glucose, respectively.
SUMMARY
THE ROTATING DISK METHOD has been shown to be a
relatively simple and reliable technique for determining the
mass diffusivity of food components in liquids. The major
disadvantage of the methodology results from the requirement
that the compounds of interest must be formed into disks of
sufficient rigidity to physically endure the test procedure which
is not possible for all food components.
REFERENCES
Bates, F., Phelps, F.P., and Synder, CF. 1927. Saccharinretry, the prop-
erties of commercial sugars and their solutions. In “International Ciit-
ical Tables of Numerical Data. Physics, Chemistry and Technology,” Vol.
II, 1st ed, p 334. McGraw Hill, New York.
Bourne, J.R. and Tovsti a, G. 1985. Measurement of the diffuaivity of l-
Naphthol in water wit.i a rotating disk. Chem. Eng. Comm. 36: 67.
Chandrasekeran, S.K. and King, C.J. 19’72. Multicomponent di&aion and
vapor-liquid equilibria of dilute organic components in aqueous and sugar
solutions. AIChE J. l&X3): 513.
Levich, V.G. 1962. “Physic0-Chemical Hydrodynamics,” ch. 2-3. Prentice-
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Newman, J.S. 1973. “Electrochemical Systems,” p. 309. Prentice-Hall, En-
glewood Cliffs, NJ.
Reid, R.C., Prausnitz, J.M., and Sherwood, T.P. 1977. “The Properties of
Gases and Liquids.” McGraw Hill, New York.
MS received 10/26/86; accepted 12/17/86.
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min, riboflavin and niacin content of beef steaks. Ph.D. dissertation,
Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
Tarladgis, B.G., Watts, B.M., Younathan, M.T., and Dugan, L.R. Jr. 1960.
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MS received 6/27/86; revised 12/16/86; accepted 12/16/86.