УДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ ОБЛАДНАННЯ ДЛЯ СУШІННЯ ПЛОДОВО-ОВОЧЕВОЇ СИРОВИНИ НА ОСНОВІ ЗАСОБІВ АВТОМАТИЗАЦІЇ

Effects of microwave drying on the contents of functional constituents of Eucommia ulmoides flower tea

A new drying method of combined superheated steam and microwave drying is being proposed. The drying rates of sintered glass beads in combined superheated steam and microwave drying are experimentally and theoretically investigated. Drying experiments have been carried out in a waveguide where a standing wave is formed to uniformly heat a small sample. Concerning drying rate curves in combined superheated steam and microwave drying, a distinct constant rate period has been observed. For the falling rate period, high drying rates have been observed. For both periods, the drying rates in combined superheated steam and microwave drying are higher than those in superheated steam alone. Also, in comparison with the results of combined nitrogen and microwave drying, the normalized drying rates in combined superheated steam and microwave drying are higher than those at less than the critical moisture content in combined nitrogen and microwave drying. Moreover, theoretical drying rates for the falling rate period (predicted by a modified receding evaporation front model) in combined superheated steam and microwave drying, are in good agreement with the observed drying rates. The combined superheated steam and microwave drying method can attain higher drying rates under mild external conditions.

Beetroot is recognized as a health-promoting vegetable due to its abundant source of bioactive compounds. Drying methods significantly influence the quality of products. Therefore, it is important to choose a suitable drying method to obtain high quality of dried beetroots. The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of different drying methods on the quality attributes of beetroots. Fresh beetroots were dehydrated by freeze drying (FD), heat pump drying (HPD), vacuum drying (VD), microwave drying (MD) and microwave vacuum drying (MVD), respectively. The drying time, final moisture content, rehydration ratio, color, microstructure, betalain content and total flavonoids content of beetroots prepared by different drying methods were analyzed. The results showed that MVD and MD were superior to VD, HPD and FD in terms of drying time. The drying time (0.77±0.03 h) of MD was reduced by 97.40 % compared with FD, which was only 9.83 % of VD and 11.27 % of HPD. No significant differences in the final moisture content among beetroots dried using different drying methods were observed. Beetroots dried by FD showed the most desirable color and porous structure. Besides, beetroots dried by MVD exhibited the largest rehydration ratio, while the lowest rehydration ratio appeared in the beetroots obtained using MD. In addition, beetroots prepared by HPD illustrated the highest contents of betacyanin, betaxanthin and total flavonoids, which were 5.48±0.03 mg/g, 2.40±0.02 mg/g and 24.71±0.47 mg rutin equivalent/g, respectively. These results identify that it is difficult to achieve the best quality dried beetroots using a single drying method. Therefore, considering the quality attributes, the combined drying method (HPD+MVD) would be a very promising alternative method for obtaining dehydrated beetroots

Flowers, cherished for their fleeting beauty, have found a new lease on life through the art of preservation. This study delves into the intricate world of drying methods, specifically focusing on roses (Rosa hybrida L.), aiming to enhance their longevity, colour retention, and overall acceptability. Conducted at Pt. K.L.S. College of Horticulture and Research Station in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, from March to May 2023, the study compared six rose drying methods: air, sun (sand-embedded), press, water, microwave (sand-embedded), and silica gel embedding. Using a randomized design, each method dried five roses (observations on three). Color, texture, shape, appearance, and brittleness were rated (1-5), while weight, moisture loss, and drying time were measured. Silica gel embedding excelled in visual quality and moisture control, making it the optimal method for preserving roses. Results reveal the prowess of embedded drying with silica gel (T6), achieving peak scores in visual quality parameters. The method not only maintains superior colour retention but also excels in texture, shape, overall appearance, and brittleness. Quantitative data portrays the delicate dance of moisture loss, where microwave drying (T5) stands out for its rapidity, albeit with the highest loss percentage. Time taken for drying is a symphony orchestrated by microwave drying, showcasing efficiency in both days and hours. In conclusion, this study advocates for the Embedded Drying (Silica Gel) method as the optimal choice for drying roses. Beyond aesthetics, it sheds light on the delicate balance between moisture loss and drying time, while emphasizing the economic efficiency of this method.

The aim of research is to develop a method for the production of a new generation of protein snacks using a protein vegetable and milk base and vegetable fortifiers from spicy and carotene-containing vegetables using cryo and mechanical destruction processes. The method is based on the use of a deep processing method as an innovation, which consists in a complex effect on vegetable and protein raw materials of cryo and mechanical destruction processes in modern quick-freezing and low-temperature crushing equipment. The proposed method allows to get new protein snacks with a high content of protein, BAR and phytocomponents in an easily digestible form.
 A new generation of protein snacks has been developed to strengthen the immune system using cryogenic protein base and vegetable raw materials. Nano-additives from dried peas and specially processed soft brine cheese are used as a protein base. Pea nanoadditives obtained using non-enzymatic catalysis – mechanolysis, mechanical destruction contain 21.5 ... 23.0% of complete protein, which includes 49% of amino acids in a bound state and 51% in a free state. During the special processing of soft brine cheese with the help of mechanical destruction, 50 ... 55% of the bound amino acids of the protein are transformed into free α-amino acids in an easily digestible form.
 The proposed method makes it possible to more fully reveal the biological potential of vegetable and protein raw materials, to transform protein, BAS and phytocomponents in a bound form into easily digestible nanocomponents into a free easily digestible form. In addition, the processed protein base and raw materials acquire new properties - structure formation, gelation, coloring ability.
 The obtained protein snacks are natural, differ from the traditional ones by their high content of complete protein and the absence of synthetic impurities (preservatives, thickeners, colorants, etc.). In addition, 100 g of new products can satisfy the daily requirement for biologically active substances (β-carotene, L-ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds)

The depletion of traditional feed resources makes the search for alternative raw materials for the feed industry extremely crucial. A heap of early-maturing wheat is of significant interest as a new feed raw material due to its high protein and vitamin percentage. However, its use in feed production is limited by such significant drawback as high moisture content (up to 60 %), which promotes self-heating and microbial growth in the grain mass. To eliminate these negative factors, drying is required to ensure maximum preservation of nutritional value and vitamins in the product. The current review has presented a comparative analysis of such methods for drying early maturing wheat grain as convection, microwave drying, and infrared drying. There have been considered the characteristics of each method and identified their key advantages and disadvantages. There has been established that the infrared drying method is the most effective, since it combines a gentle temperature regime (40–60 °C) with a high speed of the process, which allows preserving maximum nutrients in the finished product. The convective method has been found ineffective due to the high risk of overheating the initial product. Microwave drying should be used primarily at the final drying stage, as it is unprofitable to use it for processing high-moisture raw materials.

Ganoderma lucidum, a famous Chinese medicinal mushroom, is cultivated systematically, harvested seasonally and dried for preservation. In this study, the effects of sun drying, hot air drying at 50 °C and 70 °C, microwave drying at 420 W and 700 W, and freeze drying on the moisture content, rehydration capacity, the contents of total phenolics, flavonoids and triterpenoids, as well as on the antioxidant activity of G. lucidum were investigated. The results showed that the physical properties, bioactive ingredients and antioxidant activity of G. lucidum were significantly affected by the different drying techniques. Microwave drying at 700 W resulted in the lowest moisture content, whereas freeze drying resulted in the highest rehydration rate compared with the other drying methods. The content of total phenolics and flavonoids, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging ability, and the ferric reducing antioxidant power were found to be the highest at the G. lucidum dried by microwave drying at 700 W. Overall, Microwave drying was of short duration and significantly retained the antioxidant activity and high content of phenolics in G. lucidum. Thus, Microwave drying could be suggested as the optimal method for preserving the fruiting body of G. lucidum.

This experiment was conducted to examine the influence of drying methods on the essential oil of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) and its chemical composition. Chamomile flower heads were dried using five different methods: sunlight for 72 h; shade for 1 week; oven at 40 °C for 72 h; solar dryer for 72 h; and microwave for 5 min. Drying methods had slight and nonsignificant impacts on dry biomass of flower heads. The highest percentages of oil in flowers (0.35–0.50%) were observed after solar-drying methods, and the lowest percentage of oil was found after microwave drying (0.24–0.33%). Drying methods significantly influenced the number of identified compounds. The maximum was identified after solar drying (21 compounds), while the lowest was identified after microwave drying (13 compounds), which revealed the solar ability to preserve compounds in contrast to microwave, which crushed the compounds. Major compounds were α-bisabolol oxide A (33.0–50.5%), (Z)-tonghaosu (10.0–18.7%), α-bisabolol oxide B (8.2–15.4%), α-bisabolone oxide A (5.4–14.6%), and chamazulene (1.9–5.2%) of essential oil. Drying methods clearly affected major compounds’ content as the lowest α-bisabolol oxide A was after sun drying, and the lowest α-bisabolol oxide B was after solar drying. (Z)-tonghaosu increased during drying compared to fresh flowers. Solar drying maintained higher chamazulene content (3.0%) compared to other drying methods. The results of this study suggest that drying under the shady conditions preserved chemical composition of essential oil with higher α-bisabolol content compared to other drying methods.

Moringa oleifera, a medicinal plant of considerable interest, has been extensively studied for its leaves' functional properties, while its pods have received relatively less attention, despite being widely consumed in India and other regions. This study investigates the effect of various drying methods on the crude composition, color, ascorbic acid content, water solubility, water absorption, total phenol content, total flavonoid content, and in vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of Moringa pod pulp powder (MPP). The study reveals significant variations in the proximate composition, color attributes, and bioactive compounds of MPP resulting from freeze drying, microwave drying, oven drying, and sun drying methods. Freeze drying preserves the highest moisture content, while oven drying results in the lowest. Carbohydrate, protein, fat, ash, and crude fiber contents remain consistent across all drying methods, confirming MPP's nutritional value. Furthermore, freeze drying leads to higher ascorbic acid retention, highlighting its effectiveness in preserving this essential vitamin. The study demonstrates that freeze drying enhances water solubility, water absorption, total phenol content, and total flavonoid content in MPP. Notably, freeze dried MPP exhibits the highest in vitro antioxidant activity and antidiabetic potential, with significant α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and ACE inhibition properties. The findings underscore the importance of drying methods in preserving the quality and bioactive compounds of MPP, making it a valuable ingredient for various applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Portulaca oleracea is globally used both as a vegetable and as an herb for medical and therapeutic purposes; hence the need to investigate its phytonutrients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different drying methods (hot-air drying, microwave drying and freeze-drying) on the color, phytochemicals content and antioxidant capacity of purslane leaves. The fresh purslane leaves had high contents of total phenolics (1447.59 mg GAE/ 100 g) and flavonoids (5011.87 mg QE/ 100 g) on dry weight basis. They exhibited high antioxidant capacity (53.23% and 147.78 μmol trolox/ 100 g) measured by DPPH and ABTS assay, respectively. Chromatic coordinates (L*, a* and b*) as well as total color difference (ΔE) were affected by drying methods. Drying methods caused a significant decrease in total phenolics, total flavonoids and antioxidant capacity of purslane leaves. Drying by hot-air at 50oC and freezedrying had the lowest adverse effects on antioxidant capacities of purslane leaves while microwave drying cannot be a competitive process for preserving antioxidants and antioxidant capacity of purslane leaves. The changes in the antioxidant capacity due to the drying methods were positively correlated with the content of phenolics (R2= 0.9043- 0.9885). Therefore, it can be suggested that special care should be taken when processing method is selected for the exploration of purslane leaves.

We have investigated a change in the active acidity of blended products made from vegetable and fruit raw materials. A possibility has been proven to control active acidity through the introduction to formulations of canned foods fruits with a high content of titrated acidity. Apricot, gooseberry, cherry plum, black currant are characterized by a high content of titratable acidity, thus they could replace in the formulations of canned products the organic acids obtained artificially. It is possible to use zucchini, pumpkin, carrot and beet to produce natural organic purees, juices, compotes, sauces, natural canned vegetable food with a regulated active acidity not higher than 3.9 pH units. To achieve this level of active acidity in canned products, the mass share of titratable acidity should be brought to 0.55‒0.60 %. The canned food products manufactured using a given technique are microbiologically stable and safe when employing the sterilization temperature of 100 °C for 20‒25 minutes; they have a high organic estimate; they efficiently preserve ascorbic acid. The pumpkin puree demonstrated active acidity of 5.6 pH units. In the blended pumpkin and apricot puree, gooseberry and cherry plum puree, the active acidity decreased to 3.80‒3.84 pH units following the introduction of the calculated formulation amount of a fruit part into compositions, from 11.3 to 28.1 %, the content of ascorbic acid increased by 1.6‒2.6 times. The content of ascorbic acid in a pumpkin and black currant puree, at the regulated active acidity of 3.86 pH units, increased to 30.6 mg/100 g, by 7.6 times. A similar trend was observed for the blended purees made from carrot and table beet. The vegetable-fruit purees and sauces, manufactured in line with a given technique, are characterized by excellent organoleptic quality estimation, 26.3‒29.3 points. Canned foods from vegetable raw materials with a controlled level of active acidity, due to their fruit part, are natural products with an elevated content of ascorbic acid. The combination could be used for the manufacture of organic products from the appropriate raw materials, thereby retaining their high quality.

Outdated technologies in drying processes can lead to iПеrrational use of energy, as a consequence, high energy consumption and increased energy consumption. Therefore, the issues of energy saving and energy efficiency are the most important tasks to be solved. Nowadays, energy saving and energy efficiency are also part of the environmental problem. Ukraine, which has a unique geographical position for Europe, is fully supplied with natural resources, - one of the countries where there is inefficient use of energy resources. One of the energy-consuming areas of vegetable processing is drying. In the modern world, the issue of energy efficiency of drying methods is one of the most relevant areas of research. Convective drying of vegetable raw materials requires a rational use of regime parameters of the process corresponding to the biochemical properties of the processed object. The primary objectives of this area of processing of vegetable raw materials are to reduce energy costs and ensure high quality characteristics of the final product. This article presents the developed heat-technology for obtaining phytoestrogenic powder from soybeans and spinach. Which includes 3 stages: preliminary preparation of raw materials for drying; drying of thermolabile vegetable raw materials; dispersion and packaging of the obtained phytoestrogenic powder. As a result of previously conducted comprehensive research, it was found that the use of heat technology reduces energy costs at the stage of preparation of raw materials through the improvement of existing hydrothermal treatment of soybeans, as well as energy savings of 21% through the use of developed step modes. Studies of the qualitative characteristics of the obtained phytoestrogenic powder confirm the high quality of the final product.

As one of the main chili varieties in Mexico, Yahualica chili requires year-round availability. This study examines the feasibility of five drying methods (open-air, solar, microwave, freeze-drying and shade drying) used to preserve this culturally and economically valuable product. The results show the drying duration and rate for solar drying with varying air temperatures (40, 50, 60, and 70 °C) and airflows (150, 200, 250, and 300 m3/h) and microwave drying with varying power levels (90, 160, 360, and 600 W). Convection drying efficiency increased with temperature and airflow, according to the findings. Microwave drying significantly reduced drying time, and higher powers further accelerated moisture removal. Open sun and shade drying was the slowest, and open sun drying was also susceptible to factors compromising quality. Total Phenolic Content (TPC), Total Capsaicinoids Content (TCC), and antioxidant activity had a positive effect, since the drying methodologies favored the release of these compounds.

For the investigation of the effect of Chinese herb medicine (CHM) pieces by different drying conditions, a representative medicinal material of rootstalk kinds, Radix Astragali was chosen and dried by microwave drying , hot-air drying , vacuum drying and frozen vacuum drying after re-hydration. The influence of medicinal material quality by different drying methods, through the character of molecular weight of extraction solution by the technique of ultra filtration and measurements of micron and nanometer size to microstructure of pieces with the environment scan electron microscope, under the Chinese curatorial theory of “whole idea” and the thinking of “crude compound”. The results show that the external appearances of astragalus chips are all irregular porous shapes under the four drying methods; The speed of microwave drying method is 10 times as swift as three others; microstructure of microwave drying and initial pieces are approximate with massive cytoplasm; cytoplasm like granules by frozen vacuum drying and hot-air drying sticks to cell walls and is filled in cells very loose by vacuum drying. The content of small molecular of CHM by microwave drying technique is 82%, obviously higher than that by other techniques; experiments show that the quality of CHM depends on the microstructure. The lower the destruction extent of microstructure is, the better the quality of CHM is. Therefore, the microwave drying technology was advantageous not only to the extraction of effective components of CHM, but also to the subsequent operation such as purification and refinement etc.

Changes in coal structure that may occur during coal drying will be measured in order to determine the effects of coal drying on its reactivity toward liquefaction. Different methods for coal drying will be investigated to determine if drying can be accomplished without destroying coal reactivity toward liquefaction, thereby making coal drying a relatively economical and efficient method for coal pretreatment. Coal drying methods will include conventional thermal drying, microwave drying and chemical drying at low temperature. State-of-the-art solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques using combined rotation and multiple pulse spectroscopy (CRAMPS) and cross polarization with magic-angle spinning (CP/MAS) will be employed: (1) to measures changes in coal structure brought about by the different methods of drying and by low temperature oxidation, and (2) to obtain direct measurements of changes in the aromatic hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of the solid/semisolid material formed or remaining during pretreatment and the initial stages of liquefaction. The objectives for this quarter were to begin coal drying experiments using thermal, microwave, and chemical methods, and to begin coal liquefaction experiments on the dried coals. Three additional coal samples have been acquired. These are a Black Thunder Mine coal acquired from Arco Coal Co, and a Texas subC and Illinois No. 6 hvC acquired from the DOE coal sample bank at Penn State. The samples are listed as DECS-1 and DECS-2, respectively in the PSU sample bank. The ultimate and proximate analyses for all the samples are given in Table 1. Work on each of the subtasks is described in separate paragraphs.