Publications in year 2014

Vol. 21, Issue 4



A study of water state in selected flours using the method based on sorption isotherms

International Agrophysics
Year : 2014
Volumen : 21
Issue : 4
Pages : 469 - 481
  PDF 400.41 KB
Authors: Zbigniew Pałacha1

1Department of Food Engineering and Process Management, Faculty of Food Science, SGGW – Warsaw University of Life Sciences ul. Nowoursynowska 159C, 02-776 Warszawa
Abstract :

In the study presented in the paper water adsorption isotherms were determined for wheat, rye and buckwheat flours at 5, 25 and 40oC over a range of water activity from 0.112 to 0.945 by static gravimetric method. The water adsorption isotherms had a compatible course with  type II isotherms according to the Brunauer classification. For the description the water adsorption isotherms the GAB model was used which gave good fit to the experimental sorption data. The calculated  root mean square error (RMS) did not exceed 6% and residual coefficient of variation was less than 1%. The process temperature affected the course of adsorption isotherms. Hygroscopicity of the flours increased with lowering of the temperature. The biggest decline of net isosteric heat of water adsorption (qst,n) in the flours was in the range of water content from 4 to 15 g water (100 g d.m.)-1. With increase in the amount of adsorbed water above 15 g of water (100 g d.m.)-1, the net isosteric heat of water adsorption decreased slightly and approached the latent heat of vaporisation for pure water. The highest value of the net isosteric heat of water adsorption at the level of the monolayer was recorded for buckwheat flour (34,7 kJ mol-1), slightly lower for wheat flour (32,1 kJ mol-1) and the lowest for rye flour (25,1 kJ mol-1). Four parameter empirical model correctly described qst,n  changes in the function of water content in tested flours. The calculated RMS value did not exceed 34% and Ve value was less than 9%.

Keywords : wheat, rye and buckwheat flours, adsorption isotherms, net isosteric heat of water adsorption
Language : Polish