International Journal of Food Research
ISSN: 2056-9734
Vol. 6(2), pp. 29-40, June 2019
doi.org/10.33500/ijfr.2019.06.004

Study of the coupling of osmotic dehydration and tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) drying by the response surface methodology

Malakasa mandefu A. G.¹*, Mutambel hity D.^2,3, Kizungu vumilia R.^4,5 and Sumbu zola E.⁵

¹Department of Biochemistry and Food Technologies, Regional Nuclear Center of Kinshasa (CREN-K). P.O. Box 868 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Kinshasa.
²Department of Biotechnology, Regional Nuclear Center of Kinshasa (CREN-K).
³Département de Biologie de l’Université Pédagogique Nationale (UPN).
⁴Institut National d’Etudes et de Recherches Agronomiques (INERA /République Démocratique du Congo).
⁵Department of Chemistry and Food industries, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Kinshasa, DR Congo.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: aimeguyfr@gmail.com.

Received 10 April, 2019; Received in revised form 13 May, 2019; Accepted 16 May, 2019.

Keywords:
Coupling, Osmotic dehydration, Drying, Surface of responses.

In statistics, response surface methodology (RSM) explores the relationships between several explanatory variables and one or more response variables. In this study, it was utilized to study the relationship between osmotic dehydration and Lycopersicum esculentum (tomato) drying. The goal of this research was to assess the effect of standard operating parameters (for example, temperature of the osmotic media, the concentration of the osmotic media, the duration of the osmotic treatment, and the drying temperature) on the loss of mass, the duration of the drying, and the final moisture content of tomato during processing. Information obtained will be computed in order to mathematically model this phenomenon and generate optimal operating settings. The concentration of the osmotic solution and the temperature of the osmotic dehydration were found to influence the loss of tomato mass during the coupling process. The concentration of the osmotic solution and the drying temperature had a significant influence on the drying time and the final water content of the tomato. Mathematical models predicting the loss of mass, the duration of drying and the final water content of the tomato according to the three operating parameters are proposed and the conditions for the optimization of the coupling process are determined: a solution of sodium chloride (100 g/L) warmed at 30°C and an osmotic dehydration time of 8 h coupled with drying at 52.5°C were utilized shorten the total drying time to 42 h and yield a maximum tomato mass loss of 96.71% and a final water content of 14.51%.

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