The food fibers are consumed naturally in cereals, fruits and vegetables, and they are also added in a concentrated form in processed foods. Different fiber sources have different structures and chemical composition that will define their nutritional or technological purpose. This research aims the characterization of orange albedo dietary fiber submitted to two methods of drying (conventional and lyophilization) and split by granulometric intervals. For the density determinations, surface area, porosity and pore size distribution it was used classical techniques of the particulate systems tecnology and it was compared whit images of scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the drying method influence more in the material pore volume reduction, this is also visualized in the microstructural characteristics reveled by image analysis. The granulometric interval of particulate fiber showed itself inversely proportional to the material density and material specific surface area. The orange albedo dietary fiber showed structural characteristics that allow the diversification of new food products with high nutritional and commercial value.
agroindustrial waste; particles size; Citrus sp.; physical properties
