Drying
Drying /dehydration – means removal of
water
Drying: process of removal of water
(moisture) under the influence of non
conventional energy like sun or wind
Dehydration: process of removal of moisture
by the application of heat under controlled
conditions of temperature and/or humidity
and air flow
Objectives of drying
To preserve perishable raw food commodity
To reduce the cost and difficulty of packaging,
handling, transportation and storage
Principle of preservation in drying
Drying
Dehydration
Mechanism of drying
When hot air is blow over a wet food/ food is
kept under sun light, heat is transferred to
the surface and latent heat of vaporization
causes water to evaporate.
Normal drying curve
Drying curve is the plot of change in moisture
content versus change in time. drying process
of a material can be described as a series of
steps in which drying rate plays a important
role.
Three major stages of drying can be
observed in the drying curve.
Transient early stage, during which the product
is heating up (transient period)
Constant rate period, in which moisture is
comparatively easy to remove
Falling rate period, in which moisture is bound or
held within the solid matrix
Constant rate drying period
Constant rate:
Point A to B is called preheating period.
Point B to C of the curve, known as the constant
rate periods, represents removal of unbound
water from the product.
The surface of the product is very wet and the
water activity is equal to one.
In the constant-rate period, the water is being
evaporated effectively as a free water surface.
The rate of removal of water can then be related
to the rate of heat transfer, there is no change
in the temperature of the material and therefore
all heat energy transferred to it must result in
evaporation of water.
Falling rate:
The falling rate period (from point C) is
reached when the drying rate starts to
decrease, and the surface water activity
falls to less than one.
At this point there is not enough water on
the surface to maintain a water activity
value of one.
The rate of drying is governed by the
internal flow of liquid or vapor.
The falling rate period can be divided into
two steps.
1. First falling drying rate (C to D)
A first falling drying rate occurs when
wetted spots in the surface continually
diminish until the surface is dried (Point D).
Second falling rate period begins at point D
when the surface is completely dry. The
amount of water removed in this period can
be relatively small compared to the
constant rate and first falling rate period.
This period may take much longer time.
Effect of
drying/dehydration on
properties of food
All products undergo changes during
drying/dehydration that reduce their quality
compared to the fresh material and the aim
of improved drying technologies is to
minimize these changes while maximizing
process efficiency. The main changes occur
to dried foods are to the texture and loss of
flavour or aroma, but changes in colour and
nutritional value are also significant in
some foods.
Changes taken place in food
during drying
Basis of Example and consequences
reaction
Physical Moisture content: causing drying and
toughening of texture, hydration and
softening of texture, aggregation
Chemical Oxidation: causing oxidative rancidity,
loss of colour due to maillard
reactions, causing discolourations,
change in texture
Enzymati Polyphenoloxidase: causing enzymatic
c browning
Lipoxygenase: causing oxidative
rancidity
Lipase: causing lipolytic rancidity
PHYSICAL QUALITY
Physical properties such as colour, texture, density,
porosity, and rehydration capacity are affected by the
drying method. A tough and woody texture, slow and
incomplete rehydration, and loss of the typical fresh
food juiciness are the most common defects
encountered during drying.
1. COLOUR
Colour is a major quality parameter in dehydrated food.
During drying, colour may change because of chemical
or biochemical reactions. Enzymatic oxidation, Maillard
reactions, caramelization, and ascorbic acid browning
are some of the chemical reactions that can occur
during drying and storage. Discolouration and
browning during air drying may be the result of various
chemical reactions including pigment destruction.
2. SHRINKAGE
Changes to the texture of solid foods are an important
cause of quality deterioration. The loss of texture in
these products is caused by gelatinization of starch,
crystallization of cellulose, and localized variations in
the moisture content during drying, which set up
internal stresses. These rupture, crack, compress and
permanently distort the relatively rigid cells, to give
the food a shrunken shriveled appearance. On
rehydration the product absorb water more slowly
and does not regain the firm texture of the fresh
material.
3. CASE HARDENING
Case hardening occurs when rapid drying causes
compounds such as sugars to form a hard, fairly
impermeable case around the food piece. This
phenomenon can cause the rate of dehydration to
decrease. Case hardening can occur in high-sugar
4. Flavour and aroma
Heat not only vaporizes water during drying
but also causes loss of volatile components
from the food and as a result most dried
foods have less flavour than the original
material. The extent of volatile loss depends
on the temperature and moisture content of
the food and on the vapour pressure of the
volatiles and their solubility in water vapour.
Volatiles which have a high relative volatility
and diffusivity are lost at an early stage in
drying. Foods that have a high economic
value due to their characteristic flavours (for
example herbs and spices) are dried at low
temperatures.
MICROBIOLOGICAL AND
CHEMICAL QUALITY
Dehydrated foods are preserved because their water
activity is at a level where no microbiological activity can
occur and where deteriorative chemical and biochemical
reaction rates are reduced to a minimum. Reducing water
activity below 0.7 prevents microbiological spoilage. Most
oxidation reactions and enzyme reactions will be inhibited
as water activity decreases. However, auto oxidation of
lipids could take place at very low water activity values
0.2. The maximal rate of non enzymatic browning
reactions (Maillard reaction) is achieved at intermediate
water activity values (0.4 to 0.65). These reactions result
in the loss of nutritive value, formation of brown
pigments, as well as the formation of off-flavours,
especially when the products are stored at high
temperatures. Dried products are considered to be more
stable at their monolayer moisture content.
NUTRITIONAL QUALITY
Effect on nutritional value of dried foods are due to wide
variations in the preparation procedures, the drying
temperature and time, and the storage conditions.
Carbohydrates - Discoloration due to enzymatic or non-
enzymatic browning in fruits
Fats - Oxidation of fats is high in the higher temperature
of dehydration
Proteins - High temperatures can decrease dietary value
(due to prolonged exposure to high temperature).
vitamins A and C may be reduced or destroyed.
Depending on the method used, dehydration can also
reduce B vitamins and some minerals. Make sure to get
these nutrients from other sources to avoid vitamin
deficiencies.
Drying plays an important role in food
preservation despite having some desirable
and undesirable changes taken place
during both the processes. But these
changes can be avoided by employing
appropriate process handling of foods
during evaporation and drying. More
profound knowledge of the changes in the
properties of foods that occur with
processing is needed for the design of
better drying methods that preserve
desirable characteristics and minimize or
eliminate undesirable ones.
Types of Drying
Basically, drying can be done by two
processes viz. natural drying and
mechanical dehydration or artificial
drying based on source of energy. Natural
drying takes place under the influence of
sunlight and wind and is of three types viz.
sun, solar and shade drying. In natural
drying there is no control over temperature,
air flow and humidity whereas in artificial
drying, these conditions are well controlled.
Mechanical dehydration or artificial
dehydration can be further classified into
atmospheric and sub-atmospheric types
Methods of drying and
equipments
There is a lot of different frying methods. The
most common are sun drying, hot air
drying, contact drying, infrared drying,
freeze drying, fluidized bed drying,
dielectric drying.
Depending on the nature of the products to
be treated, either foodstuff or industrial
material, these methods prove to be more
or less adapted
Hot air drying
Most common drying method as of today. It
is simple, effective and inexpensive for
sturdy and industrial food products.
Completely dehydrate the products surface
leading to cracks. It can also be a slow
process depending on product and drying
temperature.
Sun drying
Drying by exposure to sun is the oldest and
most economical method. Well adopted for
traditional fruits and vegetables viz.
apricots, onions, etc. in remote areas. It
Contact drying
Drying a product by putting in contact with
heated walls. Most of the times drying happens
in rotating drums. However the direct contact
of product with the hot walls can lead to the
denaturation of dried product and process
homogeneity is not guaranteed
Infrared drying
Infrared drying (IR drying) is considered as a
promising drying method for food
products. When infrared radiation is used to dry
food products of high moisture, the energy is
penetrated into the materials to a small depth
and then is converted to heat.
Freeze drying
Freeze drying is based on the water
sublimation effect in a low temperature and
low pressure environment. It is for
temperature sensitive food products as it
preserve sensory properties of food. It slow,
expensive and batch process
Fluidized bed drying
Mixing of air and solid particles so that the
whole behaves like a fluid. It is mainly for
seeds and grainy materials. It is most of the
time really quick. Sometimes high
temperature can denature the product.
Dielectric drying
Drying by microwave or radio frequency. It
gives homogeneous and gentle frying. It is
mainly for heat sensitive products.
Industrial dryers
1. Air convention dryer
2. Tray dryer
3. Tunnel dryer
4. Continuous belt dryer
5. Fluidized bed dryer
6. Spray dryer
7. Drum dryer
8. Flash dryer
1. Spray dryer
Spray dryer provides a large surface area for
heat and mass transfer by atomizing the liquid
to small droplets. These are sprayed into a
stream of hot air, so that each particle dries to
a solid particle.
The drying chamber resembles the cyclone
ensuring good circulation of air, to facilitate
heat and mass transfer, and that dried
particles are separated by the centrifugal
action.
Applications
Drying of any substance in solution or in
suspension form
Most useful for drying thermolabile materials
eg: antibiotics
2. Tray dryer
These types of dryers use trays or similar
product holders to expose the product to heated
air so that dehydration will proceed
The trays holding the product inside a cabinet or
similar enclosure are exposed to heated air so
that dehydration will proceed.
Air movement over the product surface is at
relatively high velocities to ensure that heat and
mass transfer will proceed in an efficient manner.
Operated as batch systems
Applications
• Used for drying agricultural produce
• Eg: chillies, spices, etc.
3. Fluidized bed dryer
Most widely used technique for drying powders and
granulated materials (eg: peas)
The direct contact between particles and air/gas is
possible in fluid bed systems
Any type of inert gas or air is used
Can be designed in either batch or continuous type
In fluidized bed dryer, hot air is passed at high
pressure through a perforated bottom of the container
contained granules to be dried.
The granules are lifted from the bottom due to high
pressure air
The hot gas surrounding every granule to completely
dry them
Uniform drying can be done by this method
Applications
For food products such a chips, pea, grains
4. Spin Flash dryer
Ideal for drying wet cake, slurry, paste which
is normally difficult to dry
The material is fed by screw feeder through a
variable speed drive into the vertical drying
chamber where it is heated by hot air at the
same time disintegrated by specially
designed disintegrator
The dry powder is collected through cyclone
separator
Applications
To dry food products such as starch, sugar,
milk powder and instant coffee
In mineral industry to dry minerals
5. Drum / Roller dryer
It is indirect type dryer in which the feed to
be dried is maintained in a thin film on a
rotating steam heated drum
The feed being dried is spread over the
outside surface of the dryer
At the end of revolution, the drum comes to
a ‘doctor blade’ which scrapes the dried
film from the drum
Drum diameter – 0.5 to 6 meter and length
– 1 to 6 meter
Temperature of steam - 200℃
Applications
Used in baby foods, milk products, mashed potatoes,
fruit and vegetable pulp, dry soup mixtures
6. Air convention dryer
The required heat to remove water is
carried by a heated air
The hot air passes through the food and
exists from the dryer continuously during
the process
Depending on the nature of the dried food
material, the use of this technique needs
different machinery and equipment
Cabinet dryers, tunnel dryers, fluid bed
dryers and spray dryers constitute
common type of dryers used in air drying
technique
Air temperature and air flow rate are
important parameters in conventional hot
7. Tunnel dryer
These type of dryer consist of long
insulated tunnel either square or
rectangular
Tray loads of the wet material are
assembled on trolleys which enter the
tunnel at one end. The trolleys travel the
length of tunnel exit at the other end
Heated air also flows through the tunnel,
passing between trays of food and through
perforated trays and the layers of food
Applications
Fruits and vegetables
Packaging material of foods
8. Continuous belt dryer
It is a kind of common continuous drying
machine
A well-ventilated layer of product is put on
a perforated plate belt conveyor and
conveyed continuously through drying
chambers
In these chambers circulating air fans blow
hot air through the product vertically
In this process, the circulating air is
reheated after each product flow through
the heat exchangers integrated into the
dryer
Sufficient heat exchange, fast drying
speed, high evaporation
