Moisture sorption isotherms of raw and extruded wholemeal sorghum flours studied by the dynamic and salt slurry methods

• Main Authors: Melicia Cintia Galdeano, Renata Valeriano Tonon, Carlos Wanderlei Piler de Carvalho, Neuri Santos Menezes, Regina Isabel Nogueira, William Ferreira Leal-Junior, Adriana Paula Silva Minguita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Tecnologia de Alimentos (ITAL) 2018-10-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Food Technology
• Subjects: Instrumento de sorção automatizado; Armazenamento de farinhas de cereais; Coeficiente de difusão; Extrusão termoplástica; Isoterma de sorção; Equilíbrio de umidade
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-67232018000100469&lng=en&tlng=en

Abstract The saturated salt slurry method has been a standard method for many years, but there are several drawbacks, including long equilibration times, extensive labour and mould growth at high water activity (aw) values. The validity of the dynamic method (automated sorption instrument) was investigated by comparing it with the equilibrium isotherms obtained using the saturated salt slurry method for two food materials (whole sorghum raw flour and whole grain sorghum extrudates), as well as their diffusion coefficients. The sorption isotherms ranged between 11.3% and 84.3%. The equilibration time for the highest water activity (0.843) was about 30 days using the saturated salts method, considerably longer than using the dynamic method (300 min). For raw sorghum flour, the dynamic method values were consistent with the data obtained using the traditional method, which can be confirmed by the similar curves and monolayer values obtained (0.038 and 0.040 g water / g solids for the salt slurry and dynamic methods, respectively). For the sorghum extrudates, the equilibrium moisture values were higher using the dynamic method, which could be related to the low diffusion coefficient of the material (order of 10 -10). The authors suggest the use of the dynamic method as a better alternative to the saturated salt method in order to determine the sorption isotherms of whole grain sorghum-based food materials.