Bound and free water transport 

Hygroscopic food materials contain free (FW) and bound (BW) water in different cellular environments. In-depth understanding of the mechanisms of moisture migration from different cellular environments during drying is crucial for optimising heat and mass transfer as well as for obtaining better quality dried foods. Therefore, the main aim of the present work is to investigate the transportation mechanisms of FW and BW during drying. Experiments were performed on the potato tissue using 1H-NMR T2 relaxometry to uncover the mechanisms involved in FW and BW transportation. Read More

Quality prediction

Several factors including quality of raw materials, chemical and structural composition, preparation method and drying conditions, affects the quality of dried fruits. As many problems associated with microwave and convective drying such as rapid color change, significant loss of nutrients, structure collapse, it is critical to interpreting the impact of osmotic and heat treatment on complex types of food like fruits in order to overcome the problems associated with microwave-convective drying. Intermittent microwave-convective drying (IMWC) is a modern food processing technology that produces dehydrated products by the use of controlled microwave heating and hot air during the drying process. Read more