Abstract
Tucumã is an Amazonian fruit, has high nutritional value and is used in many economic segments. Therefore, studies to reduce the moisture of this products should be carried out to increase the shelf life of this fruit. This work aimed to study the drying of epicarp (shell), mesocarp (pulp) and endocarp (almond) of tucumã at 60, 70 and 80ºC. It was observed that the increase in temperature has accelerated the reduction of moisture ratio in the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Mathematical models were used to estimate experimental data as well as thermodynamic properties were calculated. Based on the highest R2 and the lowest Standard Error (SE) and Mean Square Deviation (MSD), the Logistic model showed the best fit for drying kinetics among models evaluated. The activation energy results were 39.50 kJ.mol-1, 46.62 kJ.mol-1 and 17.76 kJ.mol-1 for the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp, respectively. The results of thermodynamic properties showed that enthalpy (ΔH) could characterize drying as an endothermic process. Entropy (ΔS) decreased with increasing temperature. The Gibbs energy values were positive, i.e., the process is characterized as non-spontaneous and need external energy in order to diffuse water molecules into the air.
Keywords:
Tucumã; Drying; Ratio humidity; Mathematical modeling; Thermodynamic properties; Foods