Osmotic Dehydration Behavior of Red Paprika (Capsicum Annuum L.)

Osmotic dehydration of red paprika was studied using a combined sucrose (5 to 45 g/100 g) and
sodium chloride (0 to 15 g/100g) solution. The effective diffusion coefficients for water and solute were determined
using the slope method based on the Fickian diffusion model. The effects of concentration of sucrose,
sodium chloride and their complex interaction on water and solute diffusion coefficients as well as on equilibrium
moisture and solid contents were studied using central composite rotatable design of experiments. The
graphical optimization showed that at optimum conditions (sucrose concentration and sodium chloride concentration
were 21.86 g/100 g and 2.02 g/100 g, respectively), the following criteria were achieved: water diffusion
coefficient (Dew) $ 0.80 x 10-9 m2/s, solid diffusion coefficient (Des) $ 0.82 x 10-9 m2/s, equilibrium moisture
content (m`) # 6.85 kg/kg, and equilibrium solid content (s`) # 2.00 kg/kg.