Kinetics of infrared drying of avocado (Persea americana) pulp with different formulations

Abstract

The avocado (Persea americana) is a fruit that possesses a high nutritional content and is abundant in phytochemical compounds. However, there is a lack of research conducted on the processing and preservation methods of this fruit. Application of innovative drying such as infrared drying could create a potential product from avocado for the food and cosmetics industry. In this study, two important factors, including temperature of infrared radiation (65, 70, 75 and 80 °C) and formulation (avocado pulp with and without maltodextrin (9 g/100 g pulp)), were investigated to determine the characteristic of drying behavior. The infrared drying was found to removed moisture from avocado pulp effectively. The drying kinetics in infrared drying of avocado pulp could be determined by the Weibull model. D_eff values were estimated to range between 5.24 × 10⁻¹⁰ m²/s and 8.41 × 10⁻¹⁰ m²/s for avocado pulp with maltodextrin and between 6.10 × 10⁻¹⁰ m²/s to 9.18 × 10⁻¹⁰ m²/s for avocado pulp without maltodextrin. The activation energy for infrared drying of avocado pulp was found to be 30.77 and 26.74 kJ/mol corresponding to formulation with and without maltodextrin. It takes a short time in drying avocado pulp using infrared radiation showed high potential application in the production of high-quality dried avocado such as avocado powder.