JIMMA UNIVERSITY

JIMMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CHAPTER 4
Lecture 2

Food preservation
 cont
Food preservation by
 dehydration
By irradiation and
Using preservative

01/14/2024 2
 cont

dehydration
Drying or dehydration is, by definition, the removal of water by
evaporation, from a solid or liquid food, with the purpose of
obtaining a solid product sufficiently low in water content.

• Removal of water/moisture from a product to predetermined

level, the low water activity attained by food products extends the
shelf life of dried foods without the need for refrigerated storage
or transportation.

• For e.g. Liquid milk is highly perishable, whereas milk powders

are more stable and easy for preservation and handling
01/14/2024 3
 cont
• PURPOSE OF DRYING
• Preservation of foods
• Decreasing the weight and bulk of food to
economize shipping and canning costs.
• Production of convenience products such as instant
coffee, milk powder, instant mash potatoes

01/14/2024 4
 WATER ACTIVITY
Dehydration accomplishes preservation in two ways:
1. Removes the water necessary for growth of microbes and for
enzymatic activity.
2. Removal of water, as it increases the osmotic pressure by
concentrating salts, sugars, acids thus creating environment
which is unfavourable for growth of microbes.
Water is a key factor in food dehydration, it is the ratio Vapour
pressure of food product to vapour pressure of water at the same
temperature.
Also defined as the Equilibrium relative humidity.

The maximum water activity of dried food is below 0.70, which is

below the minimum value for food pathogens.
01/14/2024 5
 Moisture content
Expressed either in wet basis i.e. mass of water per unit mass
of wet material or dry basis i.e. mass of water per unit mass of
dry solids.
Equilibrium Moisture Content- moisture content after
equilibration with specified conditions of temperature and
humidity.
 Water within food will be either bound or unbound to solids,
this influences the drying process and stability
Bound water exerts vapour pressure less than that of liquid
water at the same temperature.
Unbound water is moisture in excess of bound moisture, also
called free moisture. Held primarily in voids of the solid.

01/14/2024 6
 Moisture content of foods before and after drying

01/14/2024 7
 Rate of drying
• The drying rate depends upon the following factors
Vapour pressure of water at drying
temperature
Vapour pressure of water in external
environment
Equilibrium vapour pressure of water in the
food
Moisture content of food

01/14/2024 8
 Mechanism of drying

1. Initial settling down- No loss of moisture, reaches to

wet bulb temperature.
2. Constant rate period- CMC(Critical Moisture content)
is reached, moisture from food product to atmosphere >
moisture from atmosphere to outer surface of grain.
3. Falling rate period- Rate of drying falls in this period.
Products can be packaged after this process, as this
marks the end of the process of drying.

01/14/2024 9
 DRYING RATE CURVE

AB-Initial Settling Phase, BC- Constant Rate Period, CE-Falling Rate Period

01/14/2024 10
 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE FOOD DEHYDRATION

1. Drying Temperature- This varies with food and the

method of drying, greater the temperature difference
between heating medium and food, greater the rate of heat
transfer
2. Relative Humidity of air- Sorption characteristic of
food to be dried should be known, as EMC is the lowest
moisture content that can be achieved under given set of
temperature and humidity.
3. Velocity of air- Higher the velocity of air, more efficient
the process of drying
4. Drying Time- Drying time depends upon the type of
food and its moisture content and temperature
01/14/2024 11
 DRYING PROCESSES

1. Air and contact drying- Heat is transferred

through food materials either from heated air or
heated surface.
2. Vacuum drying- Heat transfer is generally by
conduction sometimes by radiation.
3. Freeze drying- the water is sublimed off from
frozen food, structure of the food product is
maintained.

01/14/2024 12
 METHODS OF DRYING

1. SUN DRYING

2. USE OF MECHANICAL DRIERS

a) By heat
b) Direct contact with heated surface
c) Application of energy from radiating microwave or
dielectric source

3. FREEZE DRYING OR LYOPHILIZATION

01/14/2024 13
 APPLICATION OF DRYER

01/14/2024 14
 SELECTION OF DRYER
1. Production capacity
2. Initial moisture content of product
3. Particle size distribution or shape of the product
4. Drying characteristic of product
5. Maximum allowable product temperature
6. Explosion characteristics (spray or fluid bed
dryer)
7. Moisture isotherm
01/14/2024 15
 SUN DRYING
 Cheap method. Sun drying of food refers to foods that are dried
under the direct sun.
 Radiant energy from sun provides heat to evaporate the water,
while wind helps to move the moisture and accelerates the
process.
 Disadvantages- difficultly in controlling drying conditions,
protection from insects, pests, etc., availability of sun.

01/14/2024 16
 HOT AIR DRYERS
• The food is in direct contact with moving stream of hot air.
• Heat is supplied to product by convection
• The driers that are used for drying solid foods are:-

1. Kiln dryers 7. Bin dryer

2. Cabinet tray dryer 8. Tunnel dryer
9. Conveyor belt dryer
3. Pneumatic dryer
4. Fluidized bed dryer
5. Rotatory dryer
6. Spray dryer

01/14/2024 17
 NOVEL DRYING TECHNOLOGY
1. MICROWAVE DRYING- Microwave heating in
combination with hot air circulation is used for
drying. It can reduce drying time. Micro wave
vacuum drying has advantages over conventional
drying, as there is little shrinkage, reduced loss of
nutrients and flavours.
2. RADIO FREQUENCY DRYING- Uses
frequency in the range of 3-3000MHz, the
penetration of RF is large as compared to MW. The
largest application is in the finishing of dried post
baked biscuits and cereal product.

01/14/2024 18
 FREEZE DRYING
• Removal of moisture as a result of sublimation of water (ice
to vapour) without phase change from solid to liquid.
• Latent heat is conducted inward through the layer of dried
material, water vapour is also transferred through the layer of
dried material, thus heat and mass transfer occur
simultaneously during freeze drying.
• Freeze dried products can be stored for unlimited time, most
physical, chemical, biological, organoleptic properties is
retained.
• Essentially used for preserving exotic fruits, spices, herbs,
instant dry soups, instant coffee.

01/14/2024 19
 OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION
• Osmotic dehydration is the phenomenon of removal of
water from lower concentration of solute to higher
concentration through semi permeable membrane
results in the equilibrium condition in both sides of
membrane (Tiwari 2005).
• Osmotic dehydration is preferred over other methods
due to the retention of colour, aroma, nutritional
constituents and flavour.
• These processes include drying, spray drying, freeze
drying, freezing, vacuum packing, canning, preserving
in syrup (osmotic dehydration), sugar crystallization,
food irradiation and adding preservatives or inert gases
such as carbon dioxide
01/14/2024 20
 FOAM DRYING
• Two methods for foam drying- Foam mat and Foam spray
drying
• Stable gas-liquid foam is prerequisite for foam drying.
• Natural foam like egg white, vegetable proteins like soya
protein, gums, emulsifiers are used.
• Liquid foods are formed into a stable foam by the addition of
a stabilizer.
• The foam is spread on a perforated belt to a depth of 2– 3mm
and dried.

01/14/2024 21
 FOAM MAT DRYING

01/14/2024 22
 CHANGES THAT OCCUR DURING DRYING
1. Movement of solids- Soluble solids move towards the surface
because of Shrinkage, concentration gradient set up between
surface and the wet center.
2. Shrinkage- May influence the drying rates, due to changes in
surface areas, pressure gradients.
3. Cellular structure- Blanching makes cells more permeable
hence cooked meat, vegetable dry easily.
4. Case hardening- Common phenomenon in food with high
concentration of sugars and other solute.
5. Porosity- Escaping steam tends to puff product which desirable
in bakery products, makes structure more porous so as to
facilitate mass transfer and increase drying rate.
6. Chemical and other changes- Browning reactions, texture
changes, Flavour, Texture, Aroma, Denaturation of proteins.

01/14/2024 23
 cont
• Food preservation by irradiation

01/14/2024 24
 cont
• Principles of irradiation
Energy employed to food irradiation technology referred to
as ionization energy
Ionization irradiation occur when one or more electrons are
removed from atom.
Electron obtain at minimum energy level or ground state can
be raised to higher level become electronically excited.
If enough energy is transferred to an orbital electron the
excited electrons may be ejected from the atom ( ionized)

01/14/2024 25
 cont

01/14/2024 26
 cont

Source of irradiation for food irradiation process

01/14/2024 27
 cont

How does irradiation affect food qualities

01/14/2024 28
 cont

01/14/2024 29
 cont

01/14/2024 30
 cont

List of approved food items for irradiation

01/14/2024 31
 cont

Food preservation by adding preservatives

preservative

01/14/2024 32
 cont

01/14/2024 33
 cont

01/14/2024 34
 cont

01/14/2024 35
 cont

01/14/2024 36
 cont

01/14/2024 37
 cont

01/14/2024 38
 cont

01/14/2024 39
 cont

01/14/2024 40
 cont

01/14/2024 41
 cont

01/14/2024 42
 cont

End of chapter 4

01/14/2024 43