Comparison of Peleg and Azuara et al. models in the modeling mass transfer during pile salting of goat sheets

Application of the Peleg and Azuara et al. models for describing mass transfer during pile salting of goat sheets using different mixtures of NaCl, KCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 was investigated The high coefficient of determination (R-2 > 0.97 and R-2 > 0.95 for Peleg and Azuara et al. models, respectively) and the modulus of mean relative errors (MRE < 10% for both models) indicated the acceptability of both Peleg and Azuara et al. models for predicting both moisture loss and salt uptake. The equilibrium moisture and salt contents were estimated using Peleg rate constants and Azuara et al. model parameters. Equilibrium moisture (x(w)) and salt contents (x(s)) varied from 0.522 to 0.860 g water/g db and from 0.311 to 0.352 g NaCl/g db respectively. Multiple comparison of means showed that x(w) and x(s) predicted by the Peleg model were lower than those estimated by the Azuara et al. model. The values differed by 1.86-13.6% for x(w) and by 1.13-10.57% for x(s). (C)2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.