Mass transfer modelling of the osmotic dehydration of some fruits

An empirical model was developed to predict the water loss and solid gain d uring osmotic dehydration of apple, banana and kiwi fruit. The model is bas ed on a first-order kinetic equation, in which the rate constant is a funct ion of the main process variables (speed of agitation, solute concentration , size of fruit and process temperature). This model was applied to a wide range of experimental data on the osmotic dehydration of apple, banana and kiwi fruit, and its parameters were estimated using non-linear regression a nalysis. The results showed that all of the above process variables have a significant effect on the mass transfer phenomena during osmotic dehydratio n.