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Hamdy SA, Prabha R, Singh DP, Farag MA. Cardamom seed bioactives: A review of agronomic factors, preparation, extraction and formulation methods based on emerging technologies to maximize spice aroma economic value and applications. Food Chem 2025; 462:141009. [PMID: 39213971 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 07/29/2024] [Accepted: 08/25/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Cardamom seed (Elettaria cardamomum (L.)) is a well-appreciated spice in food and pharmaceutical industries owing to its unique rich flavor dominated by oxygenated monoterpenoids, α-terpinyl acetate and 1,8-cineole, to which most of the quality of cardamom essential oil (CEO) is attributed. CEO output is greatly influenced by different agronomic factors, processing, and EO extraction methods. In that context, the goal of this study is to provide an overarching review regarding emerged technologies along with their optimization parameters to achieve optimal oil yield with the best flavor quality. Furthermore, the recent approaches employed in CEO stabilization were highlighted alongside their pharmaceutical and food applications. Moreover, the different aspects of superlative CEO production including agricultural aspects, climatic requirements, and processing methods were also explained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherif A Hamdy
- Pharmacognosy Department, College of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Kasr el Aini st. P.B., 11562 Cairo, Egypt.
| | - Ratna Prabha
- Agricultural Knowledge Management Unit, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
| | | | - Mohamed A Farag
- Pharmacognosy Department, College of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Kasr el Aini st. P.B., 11562 Cairo, Egypt.
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Orth SH, Marini F, Fox GP, Manley M, Hayward S. Non-invasive exploration of malting barley (Hordeum vulgare) in vitro germination and varietal effects using short wave infrared spectral imaging and ANOVA simultaneous component analysis. SPECTROCHIMICA ACTA. PART A, MOLECULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY 2024; 323:124869. [PMID: 39079339 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2024.124869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 07/21/2024] [Indexed: 08/27/2024]
Abstract
ANOVA-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA) was applied to short-wave infrared spectral fingerprints of 5 malting barley varieties collected using a hyperspectral imaging system to determine the effect of germination, the influence of time and the influence of barley by means of a full factorial experimental design. ASCA indicated that there was a significant (p < 0.0001) effect of the germination status, the germination time and interaction on the spectral data for all varieties. The biochemical and physiological modification of the samples were characterised by visualisation of the longitudinal scores obtained from simultaneous component analysis for the germination time factor. This resulted in the visualisation and explanation of biochemical change over the course of barley germination as a factor of time. The relevant loadings indicated a significant change to the proteome, lipid and starch structure as driven by the uptake of water over time. The ASCA model were extrapolated to include the effect of barley variety to the already mentioned germination status and germination time factors, resulting once again in all the effects being significant (p < 0.0001). Here it was shown that all the barley varieties are significantly different from one another pre- and post-modification, based on the molecular vibrations observed in the short wave-infrared (SWIR) spectra, suggesting that the detection of biotic stress factors, such as pre-harvest germination, also differ for each variety, by indicating that the germination profile of each barley variety varies as a function of germination time. Thus, also the malting performance, germinative energy and chemical profile of each barley variety tested will vary before, during and after imbibition and germination - indicating the importance of malting commercial barley malt true to variety. These results indicate that (SWIR) spectral imaging instrumentation can possibly be used to monitor controlled germination of barley grain. Due to the shown ability of SWIR spectral imaging to detect small biochemical changes over time of barley grain during germination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Helmut Orth
- Department of Food Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bax X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa.
| | - Federico Marini
- Department of Food Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bax X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa; Department of Chemistry, University of Rome "La Sapienza", P.le Aldo moro 5, 1-00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Glen Patrick Fox
- Department of Food Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bax X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa; Food Science and Technology, University of California Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Marena Manley
- Department of Food Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bax X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa
| | - Stefan Hayward
- Department of Food Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bax X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa
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Petković M, Miletić N, Pantelić V, Filipović V, Lončar B, Mitrović O. Physical and Chemical Properties of Convective- and Microwave-Dried Blackberry Fruits Grown Using Organic Procedures. Foods 2024; 13:791. [PMID: 38472903 DOI: 10.3390/foods13050791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Revised: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of convective and microwave drying on the bioactive-compounds content of blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) fruits, as well as drying parameters and energy consumption. The fruit was dehydrated in a convective dehydrator at a temperature of 50 °C and 70 °C and in a microwave oven at power levels of 90 W, 180 W and 240 W. The highest amount of anthocyanins, polyphenols and antioxidant capacity were obtained in blackberry fruits that were microwave dried at 90 W and 180 W (46.3-52.5 and 51.8-83.5 mg 100 g-1 dm of total anthocyanins, 296.3-255.8 and 418.4-502.2 mg 100 g-1 dm of total phenolics, and 1.20-1.51 and 1.45-2.35 mmol TE 100 g-1 dm of antioxidant capacity for 90 W and 180 W models, respectively). It turned out that microwave dehydration shortened the processing time and lowered the energy consumption compared to convective drying (a significantly reduced drying time of 92-99% with microwave dehydration). Blackberry fruits dehydrated at 240 W showed the shortest dehydration time (59-67 min), minimal energy consumption (0.23 kWh) and the most efficient diffusion (1.48-1.66 × 10-8 m2 s-1).
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Affiliation(s)
- Marko Petković
- Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Agronomy Čačak, University of Kragujevac, Cara Dušana 34, 32000 Čačak, Serbia
| | - Nemanja Miletić
- Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Agronomy Čačak, University of Kragujevac, Cara Dušana 34, 32000 Čačak, Serbia
| | - Valerija Pantelić
- Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Agronomy Čačak, University of Kragujevac, Cara Dušana 34, 32000 Čačak, Serbia
| | - Vladimir Filipović
- The Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Bulevar Cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
| | - Biljana Lončar
- The Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Bulevar Cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
| | - Olga Mitrović
- Department for Fruit Processing Technology, Fruit Research Institute, Kralja Petra I 9, 32000 Čačak, Serbia
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Murali S, Alfiya PV, Delfiya DSA, Samuel MP, Ninan G. Solar Hybrid Drying System for Marine Applications – A Comprehensive Review. JOURNAL OF AQUATIC FOOD PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/10498850.2022.2155497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- S. Murali
- Engineering Division, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin, India
| | - P. V. Alfiya
- Engineering Division, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin, India
| | | | - Manoj P. Samuel
- Engineering Division, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin, India
| | - George Ninan
- Engineering Division, ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin, India
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Li Q, Qi L, Zhao K, Ke W, Li T, Xia L. Integrative quantitative and qualitative analysis for the quality evaluation and monitoring of Danshen medicines from different sources using HPLC-DAD and NIR combined with chemometrics. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:932855. [PMID: 36325569 PMCID: PMC9618615 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.932855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The root and rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen in short) is a well-known herbal medicine used to treat cardiovascular diseases in the world. In China, the roots and rhizomes of several other Salvia species (Non-Danshen in short) are also used as this medicine in traditional folk medicine by local herbalists. Differences have been reported in these medicines originating from different sources, and their quality variation needs to be clearly investigated for effective clinical application. This study presented a comprehensive quality evaluation and monitoring for Danshen from 27 sampling sites and Non-Danshen from other 5 Salvia species based on a high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) and near-infrared (NIR), with the combination of chemometric models. The results showed that cryptotanshinone, tanshinone IIA, tanshinone I, salvianolic acid B, salvianic acid A sodium, dihydrotanshinone I, and rosmarinic acid in these medicines from different sources exhibited great variations. Referring to the standards in Chinese Pharmacopoeia (CP), European Pharmacopeia (EP), and United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Non-Danshen from S. brachyloma, S. castanea, S. trijuga, S. bowleyana, and S. przewalskii were assessed as unqualified, and Danshen in the Shandong Province had the best quality due to the high qualified rate. Based on random forest (RF) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), NIR technique could successfully monitor the quality of these medicines by discriminating the species and regions with the accuracies of 100.00 and 99.60%, respectively. Additionally, modified partial least-squares regression (MPLSR) models were successfully constructed to investigate the feasibility of NIR fingerprints for the prediction of the quality indicators in these medicines. The optimized models obtained the best results for the total of tanshinone IIA, tanshinone I, and cryptotanshinone (TTC), tanshinone IIA, and salvianolic acid B, with the relative prediction deviation (RPD) of 4.08, 3.92, and 2.46, respectively. In summary, this study demonstrated that HPLC-DAD and NIR techniques can complement each other and could be simultaneously applied for evaluating and monitoring the quality of Danshen medicines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Li
- School of Chemistry, Biology and Environment, Yuxi Normal University, Yuxi, China
- Chengdu Institute for Food and Drug Control, Chengdu, China
| | - Luming Qi
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Regimen and Health, Chengdu, China
| | - Kui Zhao
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China
| | - Wang Ke
- School of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Chengdu Technological University, Chengdu, China
| | - Tingting Li
- Chengdu Institute for Food and Drug Control, Chengdu, China
| | - Lina Xia
- School of Health Preservation and Rehabilitation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Regimen and Health, Chengdu, China
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Al‐Hilphy AR, Ahmed AK, Gavahian M, Chen H, Chemat F, Al‐Behadli T, Mohd Nor MZ, Ahmad S. Solar energy‐based extraction of essential oils from cloves, cinnamon, orange, lemon, eucalyptus, and cardamom: A clean energy technology for green extraction. J FOOD PROCESS ENG 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/jfpe.14038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Abdul‐Hadi K. Ahmed
- Department of Food Sciences, College of Agriculture University of Basrah Basrah Iraq
| | - Mohsen Gavahian
- Department of Food Science National Pingtung University of Science and Technology Pingtung Taiwan
| | - Ho‐Hsien Chen
- Department of Food Science National Pingtung University of Science and Technology Pingtung Taiwan
| | - Farid Chemat
- GREEN Team Extraction, UMR408, INRA Université D'Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse Avignon Cedex France
| | | | - Mohd Zuhair Mohd Nor
- Department of Process and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia Serdang Malaysia
| | - So'bah Ahmad
- School of Industrial Technology, Faculty of Applied Science Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam Malaysia
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Wang S, Jin J, Suo R, Wang Y, Wang J, Wang W, Liu Y, Chitrakar B. Evaluation of Solar Drying on Drying Behaviour and Drying Kinetics of Penaeus vannamei. JOURNAL OF AQUATIC FOOD PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/10498850.2022.2048156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Suwen Wang
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
| | - Jingyu Jin
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
| | - Ran Suo
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Hebei Technology Innovation Center of Agricultural Products Processing, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Sino-US and Sino-Japan Joint Center of Food Science and Technology, Baoding, Hebei, China
| | - Yajiao Wang
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
| | - Jie Wang
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Hebei Technology Innovation Center of Agricultural Products Processing, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Sino-US and Sino-Japan Joint Center of Food Science and Technology, Baoding, Hebei, China
| | - Wenxiu Wang
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Hebei Technology Innovation Center of Agricultural Products Processing, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Sino-US and Sino-Japan Joint Center of Food Science and Technology, Baoding, Hebei, China
| | - Yaqiong Liu
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Hebei Technology Innovation Center of Agricultural Products Processing, Baoding, Hebei, China
- Sino-US and Sino-Japan Joint Center of Food Science and Technology, Baoding, Hebei, China
| | - Bimal Chitrakar
- College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
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An Innovative Hybrid Drying Technique for Parboiled Rice Production Without Steaming: an Appraisement of the Drying Kinetics, Attributes, Energy Consumption, and Microstructure. FOOD BIOPROCESS TECH 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s11947-021-02729-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Ren Y, Lin X, Lei T, Sun DW. Recent developments in vibrational spectral analyses for dynamically assessing and monitoring food dehydration processes. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2021; 62:4267-4293. [PMID: 34275402 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1947773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Dehydration is one of the most widely used food processing techniques, which is sophisticated in nature. Rapid and accurate prediction of dehydration performance and its effects on product quality is still a difficult task. Traditional analytical methods for evaluating food dehydration processes are laborious, time-consuming and destructive, and they are not suitable for online applications. On the other hand, vibrational spectral techniques coupled with chemometrics have emerged as a rapid and noninvasive tool with excellent potential for online evaluation and control of the dehydration process to improve final dried food quality. In the current review, the fundamental of food dehydration and five types of vibrational spectral techniques, and spectral data processing methods are introduced. Critical overtones bands related to dehydration attributes in the near-infrared (NIR) region and the state-of-the-art applications of vibrational spectral analyses in evaluating food quality attributes as affected by dehydration processes are summarized. Research investigations since 2010 on using vibrational spectral technologies combined with chemometrics to continuously monitor food quality attributes during dehydration processes are also covered in this review.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuqiao Ren
- Food Refrigeration and Computerized Food Technology (FRCFT), School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, Agriculture & Food Science Centre, University College Dublin (UCD), National University of Ireland, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Xiaohui Lin
- Food Refrigeration and Computerized Food Technology (FRCFT), School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, Agriculture & Food Science Centre, University College Dublin (UCD), National University of Ireland, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Tong Lei
- Food Refrigeration and Computerized Food Technology (FRCFT), School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, Agriculture & Food Science Centre, University College Dublin (UCD), National University of Ireland, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Da-Wen Sun
- Food Refrigeration and Computerized Food Technology (FRCFT), School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, Agriculture & Food Science Centre, University College Dublin (UCD), National University of Ireland, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
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Zartha Sossa JW, Orozco GL, García Murillo LM, Peña Osorio M, Sánchez Suarez N. Infrared Drying Trends Applied to Fruit. FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.650690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Aims: This article seeks to identify the main products to which drying is applied, mainly by infrared, as well as the mathematical models used to evaluate a product.Background: The drying of agro-industrial products is a very important unitary operation to avoid post-harvest losses.Objective: This article looks to respond to the following questions: Which raw materials are subjected to far-infrared drying? What are the mathematical models used in the application of far-infrared?Method: To identify the most focused articles on the topic, we worked with the search equation “TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘infrared drying’) AND fruits AND [LIMIT-TO (SUBJAREA, ‘AGRI’) OR LIMIT-TO (SUBJAREA, ‘ENGI’)],” which was run in the Scopus database for scientific articles.Result: After knowing the different technologies, more than 23 applications in agro-industrial products were identified. In these applications, it is observed how quality is one of the most important factors in the preservation of dehydrated products; far-infrared drying helps retain sensory quality in products such as sweet potatoes, grapes, Cordyceps militaris, and mangoes.Conclusion: A common factor that could be found from the articles and patents was the application of this infrared drying technique in fruits and vegetables with high water content, such as kiwi, chives, and mushroom varieties. These articles and patents based their studies on optimizing the technique by varying drying times, temperatures, and pressures, even sometimes combining different drying techniques—all to preserve the organoleptic characteristics of the product, avoiding damage to thermolabile compounds and obtaining a dry food of very good quality, performance, and characteristics.
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FT-IR biomarkers of sexual dimorphism in yerba-mate plants: Seasonal and light accessibility effects. Microchem J 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2020.105329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Aboud SA, Altemimi AB, R. S. Al-HiIphy A, Yi-Chen L, Cacciola F. A Comprehensive Review on Infrared Heating Applications in Food Processing. Molecules 2019; 24:molecules24224125. [PMID: 31731574 PMCID: PMC6891297 DOI: 10.3390/molecules24224125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Infrared (IR) technology is highly energy-efficient, less water-consuming, and environmentally friendly compared to conventional heating. Further, it is also characterized by homogeneity of heating, high heat transfer rate, low heating time, low energy consumption, improved product quality, and food safety. Infrared technology is used in many food manufacturing processes, such as drying, boiling, heating, peeling, polyphenol recovery, freeze-drying, antioxidant recovery, microbiological inhibition, sterilization grains, bread, roasting of food, manufacture of juices, and cooking food. The energy throughput is increased using a combination of microwave heating and IR heating. This combination heats food quickly and eliminates the problem of poor quality. This review provides a theoretical basis for the infrared treatment of food and the interaction of infrared technology with food ingredients. The effect of IR on physico-chemical properties, sensory properties, and nutritional values, as well as the interaction of food components under IR radiation can be discussed as a future food processing option.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salam A. Aboud
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, Basrah 61004, Iraq; (S.A.A.); (A.R.S.A.-H.)
| | - Ammar B. Altemimi
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, Basrah 61004, Iraq; (S.A.A.); (A.R.S.A.-H.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +964-773-5640-090
| | - Asaad R. S. Al-HiIphy
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, Basrah 61004, Iraq; (S.A.A.); (A.R.S.A.-H.)
| | - Lee Yi-Chen
- Department of Plant Soil and Agricultural Systems, Agriculture College, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA;
| | - Francesco Cacciola
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy;
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Indirect Convective Solar Drying Process of Pineapples as Part of Circular Economy Strategy. ENERGIES 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/en12152841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This study investigates the industrial-scale application of a simple convective solar drying process of pineapples as part of a circular economy strategy for developing countries. A renewable energy concept is presented, which follows the circular economy aims by effectively employing a simple system for biogas production and a two-stage drying system. Both these systems meet the requirements for implementation in the specific conditions of developing countries, of which Togo, where pineapple is a major crop, is taken as an example. With respect to earlier findings available in the literature, the paper focuses on the solar drying process, which is critical to the proposed strategy. A portable solar dryer working in indirect heating mode was built and later also modified to enhance its performance. Three main factors influencing the convective drying process, namely, drying time (270 min, 480 min), solar radiation intensity (650 W/m2, 1100 W/m2), and slice thickness (6–8 mm, 12–14 mm), were considered. The statistical Design of Experiments (DOE) method was applied to reduce the number and scope of experiments. In the best case, the moisture content was reduced from 87.3 wt % in fresh samples to 29.4 wt % in dried samples, which did not meet the quality requirements for dried fruit. An additional conventional post-solar drying procedure would, therefore, still be necessary. Nonetheless, the results show that in the case of pineapple drying the consumption of fossil fuels can be decreased significantly if convective solar pre-drying is employed.
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