Mass transfer during osmotic dehydration of pineapple: considering Fickian diffusion in cubical configuration

Osmotic dehydration kinetics of pineapple cubes (15 x 15 x 15 mm) was studied over a range of concentration (40-70degreesB) and temperature (30-50degreesC) of osmotic solution. The effective diffusion coefficients for water and solute diffusion were determined, considering pineapple as cubical configuration, assuming osmotic dehydration to be governed by Fickian diffusion. The effective diffusion coefficients for water as well as solute were empirically correlated with concentration and temperature of osmotic solution. A high degree of correlation was observed between predicted and experimental values of the effective diffusion coefficients of water (R-2 = 0.99) as well as solute (R-2 = 0.96). (C) 2003 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.