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Moisture diffusion in porous broccoli florets and stalks is modeled using the free volume and Maxwell-Eucken theories. These theories are based on the mobility of water and concern the variation of the effective diffusion coefficient for a wide range of temperature and moisture content during product drying. Mass and heat transport, shrinkage, and vitamin C degradation during drying of broccoli are simulated by a spatial model. The effective diffusion coefficient varies strongly with product moisture content and temperature. Vitamin C degradation is high at moisture contents around 2 kg water/kg dry matter. The influence of the size of broccoli on the drying rate is evaluated for several types of broccoli florets and stalks.

In this work, we propose a model for describing the dynamics in polymer blends or polymer-solvent blends close to and below Tg. The model is solved on a 2D lattice corresponding to spatial scales from 10 nm up to a few micrometers and incorporate the heterogeneous nature of the dynamics at the scale of a dynamic heterogeneity (3-5 nm). In case of polymer blends, we apply this model to study phase separation close to and below Tg upon cooling, and rejuvenation in miscible range upon heating. In the course of phase separation, we observe slow structures forming in coexistence with faster ones. In the same time, the global dynamics of the system slows down and domains grow like the logarithm of the time. During rejuvenation, we observe that morphologies melt much faster the elapsed time required to build them during aging. In the case of polymer-solvent blends, the system is put in contact with a solvent reservoir and is at temperatures far below the pure polymer glass transition. We consider situations where the activity of the solvent reservoir is varied in order to describe either films drying or swelling. Our model allows for explaining case-II diffusion in the context of the plasticisation of a glassy polymer by penetrating solvent during swelling. Regarding the process of film drying, we show that films up to 1 micrometer thick can be completely dried. When drying a thicker film, we show that a glassy crust may appear on the free surface, as shown experimentally, Dans ce travail, nous proposons un modèle qui décrit la dynamique dans les mélanges de polymères et polymère-solvant à l'approche de la transition vitreuse. Le modèle est résolu sur un réseau 2D sur des échelles de 10 nm à plusieurs microns. Ce modèle incorpore l'aspect hétérogène de la dynamique à l'échelle d'une hétérogénéité dynamique (3-5 nm). Dans le cas des mélanges de polymères, nous appliquons ce modèle afin d'étudier la séparation de phase lorsque le système est refroidi proche ou sous Tg, et le rajeunissement lorsque le système est réchauffé dans un état miscible et fondu. Pendant la séparation de phase, nous observons que des morphologies lentes se forment en coexistence avec des morphologies rapides. Pendant ce temps, la dynamique globale du système se ralentit et les domaines croissent comme le logarithme du temps. Lors de la réchauffe en revanche, nous observons que les domaines vitreux fondent plus vite que le temps nécessaire pour qu'ils se forment lors de la séparation de phase. Dans le cas des mélanges polymère-solvant, le système est en contact avec un réservoir de solvant et est en dessous de la température de transition vitreuse du polymère pur. L'activité du réservoir peut être changée afin de décrire le séchage ou le gonflement de films. Notre modèle permet de décrire la diffusion cas-II lorsqu'un polymère vitreux est plastifié par du solvant qui pénètre le système. Concernant le processus inverse de séchage, nous montrons que des films ayant des épaisseurs inférieures à 1 micron peuvent être séchés entièrement. Pour des films plus épais, en revanche, une croûte vitreuse se forme sur la surface libre du film

There are numerous examples of the importance of small molecule migration in polymeric materials, such as in drying polymeric packing, controlled drug delivery, formation of films, and membrane separation, etc. The Chapman-Enskog kinetic theory of hard-sphere fluids with the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen effective hard-sphere diameter (Enskog-WCA) has been the most fruitful in diffusion studies of simple fluids and mixtures. In this work, the ability of the Enskog-WCA model to describe the temperature and concentration dependence of the mutual diffusion coefficient, D, for a polystyrene-toluene system was evaluated. Using experimental diffusion data, two polymer model approaches and three mixing rules for the effective hard-sphere diameter were tested. Some procedures tested resulted in models that are capable of correlating the experimental data with the refereed system well for a solvent mass fraction greater than 0.3.

The Vrentas/Duda proposal for the diffusion of polymer-solvent systems, which is based on the free-volume theory, was employed in correlating and predicting mutual diffusion coefficients in highly concentrated polymer solutions. It has been observed that the predictive version of the model is capable of qualitatively representing the experimental data, while the use of an adjustable parameter greatly improves the performance of the model. The systems studied were poly(vinyl) acetate-toluene and Neoprene-acetone, and a comparison between experimental data and calculated values from the Vrentas/Duda model is reported. A new experimental apparatus based on the sorption technique was built to provide reliable diffusivity data on the Neoprene-acetone system.