Browsing by Author "Tibanlombo Timbila, Daniela Salomé"

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    Modelado de la cinética de secado del mesocarpio y de las isotermas de adsorción de la harina de la calabaza (Cucurbita pepo L.) sometida a diferentes pretratamientos
    (Universidad Técnica de Ambato. Facultad de Ciencia e Ingeniería en Alimentos y Biotecnología. Carrera de Alimentos, 2025-02) Tibanlombo Timbila, Daniela Salomé; Acurio Arcos, Liliana Patricia
    Cucurbits are fruits rich in bioactive compounds; however, their consumption is mainly limited to fresh forms. This study analyzed the drying kinetics of winter squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) mesocarp subjected to precooking with boiling water, steam, and microwaves, and the analysis of the adsorption isotherms of the flour obtained from the different pretreatments. A decrease of more than 80 percent of the initial moisture of the samples was observed. The determination of the drying rate showed that the combination of microwave and convective drying at 65 Celsius degrees for eight hours was the ideal treatment to obtain a critical moisture of 2.68 kg water per kg dry solids and an equilibrium moisture of 0.04 kg water per kg dry solids. The water loss rate was adjusted to six main mathematical models, with the Modified Page model providing the best fit. When determining the effective diffusivity coefficient of water, it was found that the pretreatments reduce the activation energy. Therefore, it is concluded that these previous stages accelerate the drying process. The shelf life of the flours was examined through the construction of sorption isotherms. These presented type II sigmoid curves due to their macroscopic surface structure and hydrophobic nature. Regarding the fit performed with the BET and GAB models, it was confirmed that the adhesion of water molecules is stronger in the monolayer. The correlation coefficient allowed the establishment of the BET model as the best approximation.