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Procedia Engineering00 (2014) 000000

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10th International Conference on Mechanical Engineering, ICME 2013

Determination of effective moisture diffusivity of banana using
Thermogravimetric analysis
Mohammad U.H. Joarddera,b,*,M.A. Karima, C.Kumara, Richard J. Browna
a
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology Brisbane , QLD-4000, Australia
b
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, Rajshahi-6204, Bangladesh

Abstract
Drying has been extensively used as a food preservation procedure. The longer life attained by drying is however accompanied
by huge energy consumption and deterioration of quality. Moisture diffusivity is an important factor that is considered essential to
understand for design, analysis, and optimization of drying processes for food and other materials. Without an accurate value of
moisture diffusivity, drying kinetics, energy consumption, quality attributes such as shrinkage, texture, and microstructure cannot
be predicted properly. However, moisture diffusivities differ due to variation of composition and microstructure of foodstuff and
drying variables. For a particular food, it changes with many factors including moisture content, water holding capacity, process
variables and physiochemical attributes of food. Published information on moisture diffusivities of banana is inadequate and
sometimes inconsistent due to lack of precise repeatable analysis techniques. In this work, the effective moisture diffusivity of
banana was determined by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), which ensures precise measurements and reproduction of
experiments. A TGA Q500 V20.13 Build 39 was deployed to obtain the drying curve of the food material. It was found that
effective moisture diffusivity ranged from 6.63 x10 -10 to 1.03 x10-9 and 1.34 x10-10 to 6.60 x10-10 for isothermal at 70 0C and non-
isothermal process respectively.These values are consistent with the value of moisture diffusivity found in the literature.

2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology (BUET).

Keywords: Drying; Moisture diffusivity; Drying Kinetics; Thermo gravimetric Analysis

* Corresponding author. Tel.:+8801734815621, +61415678420;.

E-mail address: [email protected]

1. Introduction

The issue of dried food quality has recently received considerable attention. Fruits and vegetables are important
sources of essential dietary nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and fiber. Since the moisture content of fresh fruits
and vegetables is generally more than 80%, they are classified as highly perishable commodities [1].

1877-7058 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
 Mohammad U.H. Joardder et al./ Procedia Engineering 00 (2014) 000000
2

Nomenclature

MR Moisture ratio
M0 Initial moisture content, kg/kg db
Mt Moisture content at time t, kg/kg db
Me Equilibrium moisture content, kg/kg db
Deff Effective moisture diffusivity, m2/s
L Half thickness of the sample, m
t Time, s

Food is one of the most complex materials in natural form and the fundamental understanding of food drying has
not been fully established [2]. Lack of proper processing causes considerable damage and wastage of seasonal fruits
in many countries, which is estimated to be 3040% in developing countries [3]. Drying of foodstuffs is an
important and the oldest method of food processing. Many physical and chemical changes occur in foods during the
drying process. The quality of dehydrated product is affected by a number of factors and is dependent on the quality
of raw material, method of preparing, processing treatments and drying conditions [4]. The process of drying
commonly means moisture evaporation due to simultaneous heat and mass transfer [5]. Drying rate can be separated
into a constant rate period and one or more falling rate stage [6].The sample surface contains free moisture and
therefore during the first stage of drying constant drying rate is observed. In this stage vaporization of this free
moisture takes place [7]. After this period, to facilitate drying, the moisture has to be diffused from the inside of the
material to the surface. Therefore, from the point called critical moisture content (Mc), first falling stage of drying
starts. Diffusion rate decreases in the falling rate drying period due to shrinkage and lower moisture gradient which
result is longer drying time. Drying behavior of some biological and most food materials experience this second
falling rate period.

Effective moisture diffusivity is one of the important parameters that have to be considered for analysis and
optimization of dehydration process. Correct simulation of different drying processes also demands precise value of
moisture diffusivity [8]. However moisture diffusivity varies due to numerous factors such as food material
properties and process parameters. For a particular material, moisture distribution defers with factors like processing
temperature, physical structure, moisture content and porosity [9]. Specially, anisotropy nature of plant tissue makes
it more difficult to attain exactly same reproductive sample materials. Different methods have been developed in
order to get insight of moisture transport within foodstuff, such as, drying method, permeability method, sorption
kinetics method, moisture profile method [10]. It is essential to maintain repetitive nature of the process in order to
attain accurate moisture diffusivity. Many researchers [11, 12] have used Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to
mathematical modeling of mass transfer, which offers high level of repeatability of drying process. In addition, TGA
has a number of attractive features; it provides precise measurement of temperature, time and weight. Furthermore, it
allows heating the sample at exactly set temperature, online record of the process parameters and minimal
requirement of materials [12].

The objective of this work was to determine the effective moisture diffusivity of banana at isothermal condition at
700C and non-isothermal condition. TGA technique has been used to obtain drying data, and to use the slope method
in order to determine moisture diffusivity.

2. Materials and method

2.1. Material
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Fresh selected fruits and vegetables ( apples, bananas, kiwi, potato, carrots) were used in this investigation,
which were purchased from the local supermarket of Brisbane, Australia. Samples were then cut at thickness of
3mm using a sharp knife 7mm of diameter. Immediately after cutting the sample, it was put into the crucible of TGA
apparatus to avoid moisture loss and oxidation.

Drying experiments were performed non-isothermal condition with 1 0C/min heating rate using a
Thermogravimetric analyser (TGA Q500 V20.13 Build 39). The TGA, as shown in the schematic diagram in Fig. 1,
with its infrared furnace can allow immediate set temperature and it has precise temperature control. Banana slices
with 80-90 mg weight and 3mm thickness were placed into TGA crucible, and the carrying gas (nitrogen) flow was
kept at 100 mL/min. All weight lost, temperature and time data recorded in a computer, until samples reduced to a
level corresponding to a stable moisture content of approximately ...

Fig.1.Schemaric diagram of TGA of this study

2.3. Theoretical approach

The method of slopes was used in order to calculate the effective moisture diffusivity of the selected fruits and
vegetables at corresponding moisture content using TGA Drying of banana dominantly follows falling rate period.
Furthermore, diffusivity is commonly used to describe drying kinetics of plant tissues (fruits and vegetables) in their
falling rate stage, and the driving force of diffusion is concentration gradient. following assumptions were
made for the infinite slab shaped of five selected fruits and vegetables.

1. Initially, moisture uniformly distributed throughout the mass of a sample.

2. Mass transfer is symmetric with respect to the half thickness of the slab.
3. Surface moisture content of the sample instantaneouslyreaches equilibrium with the
condition of surrounding
air.
4. Surface mass transfer resistance is negligible compared to internal resistance of the
sample.
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5. moisture migration from the food material occurs in one dimension
6. Diffusion coefficient is constant and shrinkage is negligible.

This falling rate period of drying can be modelled using Ficks law. Ficks second law can be expressed as:

MR
= [ D eff ( MR ) ] (1)
t

Where, moisture ratio MR, was calculated using the following equation

M M e
MR= (2)
M 0 M e

It is assumed that initial moisture content is uniform in banana slabs. It is also assumed that external mass
transfer resistance is negligible and moisture migration from the food material occurs in one dimension. For one
directional drying in an infinite slab, Crank [13] gave an analytical solution, as given below:

2 2

( )

8 1 ( 2 n+1 ) D eff t
2
MR= 2
exp (3)
n=0 ( 2 n+1 ) 4 L2

Where, n is a positive integer, t is drying time (sec), and L is sample thickness (m). Considering uniform initial
moisture distribution and negligible shrinkage, Eq. (3) is suitable for determining effective moisture diffusivity. A
simplified approach shown in Eq. (4) can be obtained taking only the first term of series solutions in Eq. (3). This
equation could be further simplified into Eq. (5) by taking the first term of a series solution as follows [14].

2
ln
( M M e
M oM e ) ( )(
8
=ln 2

Deff
4 L2
t ) (4)

Effective moisture diffusion could be determined from the slope (k) obtained from the plot of
M M e
ln ( )
M oM e versus time. The slope of the straight line can be expressed as follows;

2 D
slope= =K (5)
4 L2

Where L = the thickness of the slab, if drying occurred only on one large face. In this study, drying occurred on
two faces, as slabs were placed on a mesh tray. In this case L = half thickness.
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3. Results and Discussion

Isothermal temperature at 700C was maintained throughout the drying process. As temperature gradient during
drying has a noticeable influence on drying kinetics, a non-isothermal drying with 1 0C/min heating rate also has
been compared with the drying rate of isothermal process at 700C (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Change of moisture content of banana with time

It can be apparent from Fig.2 that drying approach (isothermal or non-isothermal) significantly influences the
drying process. In case of isothermal it reached equilibrium moisture content earlier than that of non-isothermal
process

Fig. 3. Effective moisture diffusivity with moisture content

Moisture diffusivity curve, as shown in Fig.3, demonstrates that it varies with moisture content. The striking
observation to emerge from the moisture diffusion data was in isothermal process confirms the second falling rate at
moisture 0.3 kg/kg db, whereas for non-isothermal at the same moisture interestingly rising rate of diffusion has also
been observed. This might be caused due to migration of bound water (either physically or chemically bounded) at
higher temperature (136 0C) .However, Effective moisture diffusivity obtained for both isothermal at 70 0C and non-
isothermal process are within very close limit found in the literatures as show in Table1.

Table1. Effective moisture diffusivity of banana at different conditions

Drying Process Temperature ( 0C) Moisture diffusivity ( m2/s) References

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TGA (Isothermal ) 70 6.63X10-10 to 1.03X10-09 This study
TGA ( Non-isothermal ) 26-142 1.34X10-10 to 6.60X10-10 This study
Air drying 50-70 2.80X10-10 to 6.40X10-10 [15]
Air drying 70 8.50X10-10 to 6.45X10-10 [16]
Air drying 70 1.36X10-10 [17]
Ultrasound pre-treated 70 1.29X10-10 to 1.83X10-10 [18]

4. Conclusion

The drying features of banana slabs were studied in TGA with both isothermal and non-isothermal conditions.
With the precise measurement of weights and temperature, as well as immediate development of set temperature, the
TGA method proved suitable for determination of effective moisture diffusivity. It was found that effective moisture
diffusivity ranged from 6.63 x10-10 to 1.03 x10-9 and 1.34 x10-10 to 6.60 x10-10 for isothermal at 70 0C and non-
isothermal process respectively. This study provides a simple but accurate method of determination of effective
moisture diffusivity of plant tissue.

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