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The influence of diverse hot-air drying temperature on bioactive compounds, nutritional components, and physical aspects of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L. var. Tilton) fruits from 40°C to 80°C was evaluated. Firstly, drying kinetics was modeled by Diffusion model and Weibull equation, this last provided a good fit to the experimental data. The effect of drying conditions on the color and microstructure showed noticeable modifications due to an increase of air-drying temperature. Besides, a reduction of antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid contents with an increase of drying temperature were observed. As to vitamin C and β-carotene were much more affected by the long drying times (>1000 min) than high temperatures (>60°C). Sucrose, fructose, and glucose were identified in all apricot samples, being sucrose the predominant sugar. Thus, results from the present study indicate that the hot-air drying technology continues to be applicable for obtaining a dried functional product of good quality.

The moisture sorption isotherms of Chilean papaya were determined at 5, 20, and 45 ºC, over a relative humidity range of 10-95%. The GAB, BET, Oswin, Halsey, Henderson, Smith, Caurie and Iglesias-Chirife models were applied to the sorption experimental data. The goodness of fit of the mathematical models was statistically evaluated by means of the determination coefficient, mean relative percentage deviation, sum square error, root-mean-square error, and chi-square values. The GAB, Oswin and Halsey models were found to be the most suitable for the description of the sorption data. The sorption heats calculated using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation were 57.35 and 59.98 kJ·mol-1, for adsorption and desorption isotherms, respectively.

El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar y modelar la cinética de secado por aire caliente del alga Gracilaria (Gracilaria chilensis) utilizando un secador convectivo diseñado y construido en la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad de La Serena a cinco temperaturas de bulbo seco (30, 40, 50, 60 y 70ºC) y velocidad de aire de 2.0±0.2 m.s-1. Para el modelado matemático se utilizan tres modelos empíricos (Newton, Henderson-Pabis & Page). Durante el experimento se observa solamente el periodo de velocidad decreciente, por lo que se utiliza la ecuación de la segunda Ley de Fick para el cálculo de la difusividad efectiva de agua. El proceso de secado presenta humedades finales entre 0.096 g agua/g m.s y 0.061 g agua/g m.s para 30ºC y 70ºC, respectivamente. Tanto la difusividad como los parámetros cinéticos k1, k2 y k3 de los modelos propuestos presentan dependencia con la temperatura y al evaluarlos con la ecuación de Arrhenius se obtienen energías de activación de 39.92, 33.85, 33.49 y 33.83 kJ·mol-1, respectivamente. De acuerdo a los análisis estadísticos que se utilizan (r2, SSE, RMSE y X²), el modelo de Page muestra la mejor calidad de ajuste sobre los datos experimentales, otorgando así una buena herramienta para el modelado de la cinética de secado industrial de la Gracilaria chilensis y el cálculo del tiempo de secado a diferentes temperaturas, con el fin de alcanzar un contenido de humedad comercial aceptable internacionalmente.The aim of this research is to study and to model the hot air drying kinetics of Gracialaria algae (Gracilaria chilensis), using a convective drier -designed and built at the Faculty of Engineering of Universidad de La Serena- at five dry bulb temperatures (30, 40, 50, 60 and 70ºC) and an air velocity of 2.0 ± 0.2 m.s-1. Three empirical models are used for the mathematic modeling (Newton, Henderson-Pabis & Page). During the experiment, only a falling rate period is observed, hence the Fick's second law equation is used to estimate the effective water diffusivity. The drying process shows final moisture contents between 0.096 g water/g d.b. and 0.061 g water/g d.b. for 30ºC and 70ºC, respectively. Both diffusivity and kinetic parameters k1, k2 and k3 of the proposed models show dependence on temperature, and when being evaluated by the Arrhenius equation, activation energies of 39.92, 33.85, 33.49 and 33.83 kJ·mol-1 are obtained, respectively. According to the statistical analyses used (r2, SSE, RMSE and X²), the Page model shows the best fit quality on experimental data, thus being considered an excellent tool for the kinetic modeling of industrial drying processing of Gracilaria chilensis and the estimation of drying time at different temperatures, in order to achieve a commercial moisture content to be acceptable abroad.