Modelado de la cinética de secado convectivo e isotermas de adsorción de agua de camote morado (Ipomoea batatas) y mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum), provenientes de la provincia de Tungurahua

Abstract

The present work correlated data on the drying kinetics of purple sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) and mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum Ruiz & Pav) with referential mathematical models. Different mathematical models were used to predict the drying kinetics of these tubers. The Page model was the one that best fitted the experimental data of purple sweet potato, with a coefficient of determination of 0.992. While the mashua was adapted to the Thomson model with coefficient of determination of 0.998. On the other hand, adsorption isotherms were built using hygroscopic salts with aw between 0.1178 and 0.8012. The adsorption isotherms were of type II and allowed to predict the w0, optimal humidity at which its stability and conservation would be ensured. The curves were evaluated using the GAB and BET mathematical models. In mashua flour, the BET model was the one that best describes its adsorption isotherm with a coefficient of determination of 0.997. In contrast, purple sweet potato was better adapted to the GAB model with a coefficient of determination of 0.992.