Papers by Author: J.V. García-Pérez

Abstract: The large amount of materials derived from olive trees pruning may constitute a source of compounds with antioxidant activity. The air drying of raw matter is a previous stage before extraction preserving the raw matter and avoiding the interference of water on the process but it constitutes a slow and high energy demanding process. In this sense, the application of high intensity ultrasound could affect the mass transfer rate. In order to address the influence of ultrasound on the drying process of olive leaves, air drying experiments were carried out (40°C and1 m/s) without (0 W) and with ultrasound application (8, 16, 25 and 33 kW/m3). The different drying conditions were tested by triplicate. To model the experimental data, diffusional models considering or not the external resistance to mass transfer were used. The model without considering external resistance did not fit well to the experimental data. However, the model including external resistance achieved percentages of explained variance above 99.7%. The influence of ultrasound on diffusivity was not significant but a significant dependence was found for the mass transfer coefficient, proportional to the power density applied.

Abstract: Grape pomace is the main by-product from the wine industry. It is principally made up of grape skin and seeds. Drying this by-product is the first step for the later extraction of components with high added value like oil or antioxidants. Due to the different characteristics of the components, the study of the drying kinetics of grape pomace must be addressed taking its components into account one by one. For that purpose, grape seeds from the Spanish wine industry were dehydrated in a convective laboratory dryer at 70 °C and at 1, 2 and 3 m/s until a weight loss of 40% was reached. Drying kinetics was determined in triplicate. Modelling was carried out by means of a diffusion model without considering shrinkage and external resistance. Grape seeds were assumed to be spherical. For all the fits, the explained variance was higher than 96.9 % and the mean relative modulus was lower than 1.7 %. Between 1 and 2 m/s, effective diffusivity increased in line with air velocity, although the values of effective diffusivity calculated for 2 and 3 m/s were similar. It seems to indicate that for the experimental conditions under study, the external resistance is not negligible at 1 and 2 m/s and for higher air velocities the internal resistance to mass transfer controls the drying process. These results coincide with those found by other authors when studying different food products.

Abstract: Grape stalk constitutes a by-product of wineries with low economic value. The extraction of compounds with antioxidant capacity may be considered as an alternative to increasing its value. Prior to extraction there must be a drying process, which may affect not only the product structure but also the antioxidant activity of extracts. The aim of this work was to address the influence of grape stalk drying conditions on the subsequent extraction of antioxidant compounds. Prior to the extraction experiments, grape stalk was dried under different conditions: freeze dried and hot air dried at different temperatures (40, 70 and 100 °C). The extraction experiments were carried out at 60 °C using ethanol-water (80 % v/v) as solvent. Extracts were taken after 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240 and 1380 min. Antioxidant concentration in the solvent was evaluated by measuring the total antioxidant activity using the FRAP method. Extraction kinetic was modelled from the evolution of antioxidant concentration in the solvent using a diffusion model. Extracts obtained from freeze dried samples presented the highest antioxidant concentration, almost double that from hot air dried samples. Among these, the highest antioxidant concentration was found for samples dried at 100 and 40 °C. The freeze dried samples also showed the highest kinetic parameters: effective antioxidant diffusivity and mass transfer coefficient.

Abstract: The main aim of this work was to assess the influence of power ultrasound on mass transfer process during convective drying of a low porosity product submitted to different acoustic energy levels. Drying kinetics of carrot cubes (side 8.5 mm) were carried out at 40 °C and 1 m/s applying different electric power levels to the ultrasonic transducer: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 W. Drying kinetics were modelled considering the diffusion theory. From the results, a significant (p<0.05) influence of power ultrasound application on drying kinetics of carrot cubes was found. Drying rate increased as the electric power applied got higher. The influence was only observed above an acoustic energy threshold, which corresponded to an electric power applied to the transducer of 20-30 W. From this threshold, a linear relationship was found between the average effective moisture diffusivity or the mass transfer coefficient and the electric power applied to the transducer.

Abstract: Intermittent drying is an alternative technology to continuous drying that improves the product quality as result of diminishing the average material temperature and the heating time. In this study, the application of the intermittent drying technology to mango drying (Mangifera indica L.) was analyzed and optimized. To formulate the optimization problem, an objective function was proposed in order to improve the product quality and decrease the energy consumption. To quantify the objective function, a mathematical model for a cubic shape was formulated and validated, considering diffusional mass and heat transfer with non-negligible external resistances.

Abstract: Drying kinetics of carrot cubes were carried out at 1 m/s air velocity at different air drying temperatures (30, 40, 50, 60 and 70±0.1 °C) (AIR experiments), and also at the same experimental conditions but applying high power ultrasound (US experiments). Two kind of diffusion models were used to simulate the drying kinetics, according to external resistance to mass transfer being considered (ER model) or neglected (NER model) for solving the diffusion equation. Diffusion ER model was solved using a finite difference method. Drying rate increased as air temperature was higher. Ultrasound also increased drying rate at the different temperatures, but the improvement on drying rate decreased at high temperatures, and almost disappeared at 70 °C. Effective moisture diffusivities only showed an Arrhenius type relationship with temperature for AIR experiments. The NER diffusion model was not accurate to simulate the drying kinetics at any experimental conditions tested. However, diffusion ER model provided a high closeness between experimental and calculated drying data (VAR>99.80). Through the parameters identified of the ER diffusion model, effective moisture diffusivity and mass transfer coefficient, the influence of the power ultrasound application on internal and external resistance to mass transfer was shown to be significant (p<0.05).

Abstract: Grape stalk may be considered as an agro-food byproduct of the wine industry, being considered as a potential source of antioxidant compounds. Actually, before the extraction of antioxidants a previous stage of drying would be necessary. Stalks obtained from a red wine processing (Vitis vinifera var. Bobal) were characterized as a cylinder net with different size ending in spheres. The average diameters and mass fractions of the individual parts of the stalk were measured: spheres (4.4±0.7 mm and 0.352 mass fraction), large cylinders (3.3±0.6 mm and 0.204 mass fraction), intermediate cylinders (2.1±0.4 mm and 0.294 mass fraction) and small cylinders (1.1±0.3 mm and 0.150 mass fraction). Drying kinetics of each one of the parts of the stalk were carried out at 40 °C and 2 m/s using an initial mass load of 30 g. Furthermore, drying experiments of the whole stalk were conducted at the same experimental conditions. Different diffusion models were considered to predict the drying kinetics for each one of the individual parts of the stalk according to the geometry considered. A diffusion model for the whole stalk was developed by adding the individual diffusion models weighed by the corresponding mass fractions. The diffusion models considered fitted properly the drying kinetics of the individual parts considered on the stalk. The figures of the effective moisture diffusivity identified for the different kinds of cylinders were close (1.07-1.78 10-11 m2/s), however, the spheres showed a different behavior characterized by a significantly higher figure of effective moisture diffusivity (3.92 10-8 m2/s). Finally, the usefulness of the model considered to describe the drying kinetics of the whole stalks was shown.