continuous belt, fluidized-bed, foam mat, spray, drum and microwave- Dehydrated Products
from Fruits and
heated dryers), and
Vegetables
• Sub-atmospheric dehydration (vacuum belt, vacuum drum and freeze
dryers).
12.9.1 Sun Drying
Sun drying depends on the weather, honors of sunshine, the temperature and
the relative humidity outside. If you live in a hot, dry climate, sun drying may
be successful. Its advantage is the low cost. The only investments are drying
trays, netting to protect against insects and the food itself. Its main
disadvantage is time. What would take 6 to 10 hours to dry using other
methods may take 3 to 5 days in the sun. To avoid scorching, move the food
into the shade to finish when it is about two-thirds dry.
12.9.2 Solar Drying
It is a modification of sun drying in which the sun's rays are collected inside a
specially designed unit with adequate ventilation for removal of moist air. The
temperature in the unit is usually 20 to 30 degrees higher than in open sunlight,
which results in a shorter drying time. While solar drying has many advantages
over sun drying, lack of control over the weather is the main problem with both
methods. Solar drying utilizes black-painted trays, solar trays, collectors, and
mirrors to increase solar energy and accelerate drying. A typical solar dryer is
shown in Figure 12.5.
Figure 12.5: Solar cabinet driers: 1) Frame, 2) Exit air, 3) Drying tray, and 4) Air intake
12.9.3 Oven Drying
It is the most practical way to experiment with dehydration. It requires little
initial investment, protects foods from insects and dust, and does not depend
on the weather. Continual use of an oven for drying is not recommended
because ovens are less energy efficient than dehydrators, and energy costs tend
to be high. Also, it is difficult to maintain a low drying temperature in the
oven, and foods are more susceptible to scorching at the end of the drying
period. Oven-dried foods usually are darker, more brittle and of less flavour
than foods dried by a dehydrator.
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Value Added Products 12.9.4 Osmotic Drying
from Fruits and
Vegetables Osmotic drying consists of removing a percentage of moisture from a fruit or
vegetable by placing it in a concentrated solution of sugar, salt, or a
combination of both. The principle of this drying is osmosis. It is the process
of diffusion of water from dilute solution to concentrated solution through a
semi permeable membrane. Here fruit cell wall itself will act as a semi
permeable membrane. This is shown in Figure 12.6.
Water loss
Fruit/
Vegetable Osmotic syrup
Solid gain
Semi-permeable cell membrane
Figure 12.6: Principle of osmosis
The product is reduced to about 50% of its original weight by the osmotic
dehydration process. This partial drying process is accompanied by any other
drying processes viz. solar drying, vacuum drying, freeze drying, cabinet
drying etc. The sugar syrup protects colour and flavour during the drying
process. The product has a porous texture and retain a large percentage of the
flavour volatiles of the fresh food. The various factors affecting the osmotic
dehydration process are type of osmotic agent, concentration, temperature,
agitation of syrup, size of the fruit pieces and fruit-to-syrup ratio.
12.9.5 Cabinet Dryers/Tray Dryers
In tray dryers, the food is spread out, generally as thin layer on trays in which
the drying takes place. A typical tray dryer is shown in Figure 12.7. Heating
may be by an air current sweeping across the trays, by conduction from heated
trays or heated shelves on which the trays lie, or by radiation from heated
surfaces. Most tray dryers are heated by air, which also removes the moist
vapours. Hot air is circulated through the cabinet at 0.5–5.0 m/s per square
metre tray area. A system of ducts and baffles is used to direct air over and/or
through each tray to promote uniform air distribution. Tray dryers are used for
small scale production (1-20 t/day) or for pilot scale work. They have low
capital and maintenance costs but have relatively poor control and produce
more variable product quality.
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Dehydrated Products
from Fruits and
Vegetables
Figure 12.7: Schematic diagram of a typical tray drier: 1) Exit air, 2) Blower, 3) Heater,
4) Inter space between trays, 5) Trays, and 6) Plenum chamber
12.9.6 Tunnel Dryers
Tunnel dryers are the most flexible, efficient, and widely used dehydration
system available commercially. These may be regarded as developments of the
tray dryer, in which the trays on trolleys move through a tunnel where the heat
is applied and the vapour removed. The product trucks are moved through the
tunnel at a rate required to maintain the residence time needed for dehydration.
The product may be moved in the same direction as the air flow to provide
concurrent dehydration (Figure 12.8a), or the tunnel may be operated in a
counter-current manner (Figure 12.8b) with product moving in the direction
opposite to air flow. Sometimes the dryers are compartmented, and cross-flow
may also be used. Typically a 20 m tunnel contains 12-15 trucks with a total
capacity of 5000 kg of food. This ability to dry large quantity of food in a
relatively short time (5-16 hours) made tunnel drying widely used.
Figure 12.8: Schematic of tunnel driers: a) Concurrent flow drier, b) Counter-current
flow drier
87
Value Added Products 12.9.7 Conveyor Dryers or Belt Dryers
from Fruits and
Vegetables Continuous conveyor dryers are up to 20 m long and 3 m wide. Food is dried
on a mesh belt in beds 5-15 cm deep. The air flow is initially directed upwards
through the bed of food and then downwards in later stages to prevent dried
food from blowing out of the bed. This is explained in the Figure 12.9. Two or
three stage dryers mix and repile the partly dried shrunken food into deeper
beds(to 15-25 cm and 250- 900 cm in three stage dryers). This improves
uniformity of drying and save floor space. Foods are dried to 10-15% moisture
content and then transferred to bin dryers for finishing. This equipment has
good control over drying conditions and high production rates. It is used for
large scale drying of foods (for example: fruits and vegetables are dried in
2-3.5 h at up to 5.5 t/h). It has independently controlled drying zones and is
automatically loaded and unloaded, which reduces labour cost. As a result, it
has largely replaced the tunnel dryer.
Figure 12.9: A typical two stage conveyor drier/belt drier
12.9.8 Foam Mat Drying
Foam mat drying is another application of conveyor dryers. In this method,
liquid foods viz. fruit juices are formed into a stable foam by the addition of a
stabilizer (e.g.: Xanthan gum, sorbitol, mannitol, alginic acid, etc.) and aeration
with nitrogen or air. The foam is spread on a perforated belt to a depth of
2-3 mm and dried rapidly in two stages by concurrent and then counter current
air flows. Foam mat drying is approximately three times faster than drying a
similar thickness of liquid by belt drying. The thin porous mat of dried food is
ground to a free flowing powder which has good rehydration properties. The
rapid drying and low product temperatures result in a high quality product.
However a large surface area is required for high production rates, and capital
costs are therefore high.
12.9.9 Fluidized Bed Dryers
In a fluidized bed dryer, the food material is maintained suspended against
gravity in an upward-flowing air stream. The air thus acts as both the drying
and fluidizing medium, and the maximum surface area of food is made
available for drying. There may also be a horizontal air flow helping to convey
the food through the dryer. Heat is transferred from the air to the food material,
mostly by convection. A schematic diagram of fluidized bed dryer is shown in
Figure 12.10.
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Dehydrated Products
from Fruits and
Vegetables
Figure 12.10: Schematic illustration of fluidized bed drier
Fluidized bed dryers are compact and have good control over drying
conditions. They have relatively high thermal efficiencies and high drying
rates. Fluidized bed dryers are limited to small particulate foods that are
capable of being fluidized without excessive mechanical damage (e.g.: peas,
diced or sliced vegetables, powders etc.)
12.9.10 Roller or Drum Dryers
In these dryers, the food in liquid or slurry form is spread over the surface of a
heated drum. The drum rotates, with the food being applied to the drum at one
part of the cycle. These drums are made of hollow steel drums and are heated
internally by pressurized steam to 120-170oC. A thin layer of food is spread
uniformly over the outer surface by dipping, spraying, spreading or by
auxiliary feed rollers. The food remains on the drum surface for the greater
part of the rotation, during which time the drying takes place, and is then
scraped off by using a ‘doctor’ blade. Usually the time taken for one complete
revolution is 20s to 3 minutes. Drum drying may be regarded as conduction
drying. Dryers may have a single drum (Figure 12.11a) or double drum
(Figure 12.11b). The single drum is widely used as it has greater flexibility, a
larger drum area availability for drying, easier access for maintenance and no
risk of damage caused by metal objects falling between the drums.
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Value Added Products
from Fruits and
Vegetables
Figure 12.11: Drum driers: a) Single drum, b) Double drum
12.9.11 Spray Dryers
In a spray dryer, liquid or fine solid material in a slurry is sprayed or
“atomized” in the form of a fine droplet (10–200 µm)dispersion into a current
of heated air (150-300 oC). Complete and uniform atomization is necessary for
successful drying. Air and solids may move in parallel or counter flow. A
schematic of spray dryer is shown in Figure 12.12.
Feed in
Fan
Air in
Air
Exhaust
Steam
Coils
o o o o o o
o Cyclone
o o o o o o o
Separator
o 0 o o o o
o
o o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o
o o o o o o
o o o o o o
o o o 0 o
o o o o
Fine
Product out
Product out
Figure 12.12: Typical schematic arrangement of a spray dryer
90
Drying occurs very rapidly, so that this process is very useful for materials that Dehydrated Products
from Fruits and
are damaged by exposure to heat for any appreciable length of time. The dryer
Vegetables
body is large so that the particles can settle, as they dry, without touching the
walls on which they might otherwise stick. Commercial dryers can be very
large of the order of 10 m diameter and 20 m high. The dry powder is collected
at the base of the dryer and removed by a screw conveyor or a pneumatic
system with a cyclone separator.
The main advantages are rapid drying, large-scale continuous production, low
labour costs and simple operation and maintenance. The major limitations are
high capital costs and the requirement for a relatively high-free moisture
content to ensure that the food can be pumped to the atomizer.
12.9.12 Microwave Drying
Microwaves are the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between far
infrared and the conventional radio frequency region. As the microwaves
passes through the material such as fruits, the molecules within the food
attempt to align themselves with the electric field direction. As they oscillate
around their axis, heat is produced by the intermolecular friction within the
product. This heat is responsible for the moisture removal from the fruits and
vegetables. The depth of penetration is an important factor in microwave
drying. A typical microwave dryer and its parts are shown in Figure 12.13.
Microwave
energy
Hot air &
vapour
Feed
Energy
trap
Fan
Figure 12.13: Schematic of a continuous microwave drying equipment
This method has been made use in drying of fruit juices, pulps, and fruit
segments. Microwaves are endowed with some special characteristics such as
(i) A penetrating quality which results in uniform heating of materials,
ii) Selective absorption of radiation by liquid water, and iii) Capacity for easy
control. These imparts some unique effects to the dehydrating materials such
as improved quality and good texture.
91
Value Added Products 12.9.13 Pneumatic Dryers
from Fruits and
Vegetables In a pneumatic dryer, the solid food particles are conveyed rapidly in an air
stream, the velocity and turbulence of the stream maintaining the particles in
suspension. Heated air accomplishes the drying and often some form of
classifying device is included in the equipment. In the classifier, the dried
material is separated, the dry material passes out as product and the moist
remainder is recirculated for further drying. Pneumatic dryers have relatively
low capital costs, high drying rates and thermal efficiencies, and close control
over drying conditions. They are often used after spray drying to produce food
which have a lower moisture content than normal. In some applications the
simultaneous transportation and drying of the food may be useful method of
material handling.
12.9.14 Rotary Dryers
The foodstuff is contained in a horizontal inclined cylinder through which it
travels, being heated either by air flow through the cylinder, or by conduction
of heat from the cylinder walls (Figure 12.14).
Feed Steam
Condensate
Product
Figure 12.14: Rotary dryer
In some cases, the cylinder rotates and in others the cylinder is stationary and a
paddle or screw rotates within the cylinder conveying the material through.
The air flow may be parallel or counter current. The agitation of the food and
the large area of food exposed to the air produce high drying rates and a
uniformly dried product. This method is especially suitable for foods that tend
to mat or stick together in belt or tray dryers. However, the damage caused by
impact and abrasion in the dryer restrict this method to relatively few foods.
12.9.15 Vacuum Drying
Vacuum dryers are substantially the same as tray dryers, except that they
operate under a vacuum, and heat transfer is largely by conduction or by
radiation. It occurs at low air pressures and includes vacuum shelf, vacuum
92
drum, and vacuum belt and freeze dryers. The main purpose of vacuum drying
is to enable the removal of moisture at less than the boiling point under Dehydrated Products
from Fruits and
ambient conditions. Because of the high installation and operating costs of
Vegetables
vacuum dryers, this process is used for drying raw material that may
deteriorate as a result of oxidation or may be modified chemically as a result of
exposure to air at elevated temperatures. In vacuum drying, the moisture in the
food is evaporated from the liquid to the vapour stage.
12.9.16 Freeze Dryers
The material is held on shelves or belts in a chamber that is under high
vacuum. In most cases, the food is frozen before being loaded into the dryer.
Heat is transferred to the food by conduction or radiation and the vapour is
removed by vacuum pump and then condensed. Schematic illustration of
freeze drying system shown in Figure 12.15a. In one process, given the name
accelerated freeze drying, heat transfer is by conduction; sheets of expanded
metal are inserted between the foodstuffs and heated plates to improve heat
transfer to the uneven surfaces, and moisture removal. The pieces of food are
shaped so as to present the largest possible flat surface to the expanded metal
and the plates to obtain good heat transfer. A refrigerated condenser may be
used to condense the water vapour. A cross sectional view of freeze dryer is
shown in Figure 12.15b.
Figure 12.15: Freeze drying: a) Schematic illustration of freeze drying system; b) Cross-
sectional view of a continuous freeze drier.
93
Value Added Products The advantages of freeze drying are high flavour retention, maximum retention
from Fruits and of nutritional value, minimal damage to the product texture and structure, little
Vegetables
change in product shape and colour, and a finished product with an open
structure that allows a fast and complete rehydration. Disadvantages include
high capital investment, high processing costs, and the need for special packing
to avoid oxidation and moisture gain in the finished product.
# Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Note: a) Use the space below for your answer.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1. What are the advantages of using freeze drying?
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2. Explain the principle of microwave drying?
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12.10 POST-DEHYDRATION TREATMENTS
Treatments of the dehydrated product vary according to the type of fruit or
vegetable and the intended use of the product. These treatments may include
sweating, screening, inspection, and packaging. Sweating involves holding the
dehydrated product in bins or boxes to equalize the moisture content.
Screening removes dehydrated pieces of unwanted size, usually called 'fines'.
The dried product is inspected to remove foreign materials, discoloured pieces,
or other imperfections such as skin, carpal, or stem particles.
12.11 PACKAGING
It is commonly done for most of the dehydrated products and has a great deal
of influence on the shelf life of the dried product. Packaging of dehydrated
fruits and vegetables must protect the product against moisture, light, air, dust,
micro-flora, foreign odour, insects and rodents. It should provide strength and
stability to maintain original product size, shape and appearance throughout
94