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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Healthy Processed Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #206531
Title: Effect of Sucrose Concentration and Solution Temperature on Mass Transfer During Sugar Infusion of Blueberries

Author
item SHI, JUNLING - NORTHWEST AG. UNIV, CHINA
item Pan, Zhongli
item McHugh, Tara
item HIRSCHBERG, EDWARD - INNOVATIVE FOODS, SF, CA

Submitted to: Proceedings for CIGR World Congress Meetings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2007
Publication Date: 9/24/2007
Citation: Shi, J., Pan, Z., Mc Hugh, T.H., Hirschberg, E. 2007. Effect of Sucrose Concentration and Solution Temperature on Mass Transfer During Sugar Infusion of Blueberries. Proceedings of the 3rd CIGR World Congress Meetings. Section VI Int'l Symposium on Food and Agricultural Products, 1-13.

Interpretive Summary: The diffusion coefficients of water and solutes are important parameters in the analysis, design and optimization of any infusion processes. Concentration and temperature of infusion solution have great influence on the rate of solid gain and water loss during an infusion processing. This research studied effect of sucrose concentration and solution temperature on mass transfer during sugar infusion of blueberries.

Technical Abstract: The diffusion coefficients of water and solutes are important parameters in the analysis, design and optimization of any infusion processes. Concentration and temperature of infusion solution have great influence on the rate of solid gain and water loss during an infusion processing. The effects of solution temperature (30, 40, 50, 60 and 70°C) and infusion concentration (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 degrees Brix) on the sugar infusion behavior of blueberries were studied. The investigated quality parameters were weight reduction, water loss, sugar gain and water activity of the infused products. In addition, the change in the specific volume of blueberries was also tested. Sugar uptake and moisture data were analyzed using various mathematical solutions based on Fick’s Second Law of Diffusion and the effective diffusion coefficients were predicted after considering the process variables. Solid gain increased with increased concentration and decreased temperature of the infusion solution. The rate of water loss increased with increased solution temperature and concentration. The specific volume of blueberries was found to be dependent on the solid gain and water loss of blueberries, but independent on the temperature and concentration of the infusion solution.