CINÉTICA DE SECAGEM E PROPRIEDADES TERMODINÂMICAS DE FATIAS DE BANANA MAÇÃ TROPICAL (Musa acuminata)

Abstract

Banana is a highly hygroscopic biological product. Hygroscopic products have the property of undergoing changes in their moisture content, in the form of vapor or liquid with the environment, by means of the absorption or desorption process. Drying consists of the removal of much of the water initially contained in the product soon after the physiological maturity, in order to promote long periods of storage. The objective of this work was to estimate the drying curves of Manzano banana slices of the BRS Tropical cultivar, as well as to obtain the effective diffusion coefficient and the thermodynamic properties under different drying conditions. To the experimental data were adjusted several mathematical models used to represent the drying of agricultural products. Based on the results obtained, the Midilli Modified mathematical model is the one that best represents the drying kinetics for tropical Manzano banana slices. The increase in temperature promotes: a higher rate of water removal in the Manzano banana slices during drying; increase of the effective diffusion coefficient being that this relation can be described by the Arrhenius equation; Gibbs free energy, while enthalpy and entropy decrease.