OSMOTIC

DEHYDRATION
OF AGRIC
PRODUCTS
OUTLINE
BACKGROUND OF STUDY

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

SCOPE OF STUDY

LITERATURE REVIEW

METHODOLOGY
 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
• Potato is a starchy tuber of the plant Solanum Tuberesome which
are edible and available worldwide. They are relatively cheap to
grow, rich in nutrient and can make can a delicious treat.
• Yams are multispecies and vegetative propagated tuber crops
cultivated widely in the tropics (FAO 2002). Over 90% of the
world yam production occurs in the yam belt of West and Central
Africa, with Nigeria alone accounting for about 68% of the
World’s total production (Sobukola 2007).
• Osmotic dehydration is the removal of water from the lower
concentration of solute to higher concentration through semi
permeable membrane which results in the equilibrium condition
in both sides of the membrane (Tiwari 2005).
 About 20-40% of potato
and yam production goes
to waste due to lack of
STATEMENT adequate storage
capacity and moisture
OF retention. This brings the
PROBLEM question of ‘how can
potato and yam be
preserved to avoid
waste?’.
 The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the
osmotic solution on the potato and yam slices. The
following objectives shall be pursued in the course
of this study;

To optimize the dehydration of the food materials.

AIM AND
OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of process variables such
as thickness, time and concentration on the effect
percentage moisture removal.

To derive a quadratic model of mixture removal for

the process.
 This study will help to discover
the best way to which potato and
yam slices will be dehydrated
using osmotic agents such as
salt. It is also important because
weight measurement will be
SIGNIFICANCE taken before and after soaking
the food material in the osmotic
OF STUDY agent and the difference in
weight taken. This study will
draw attention to amount of
moisture gained while soaking
and also the amount of moisture
lost after dehydration.
SCOPE OF STUDY

The scope of this study will be a

laboratory scale dehydration of
potato and yam slices using salt
solution as the osmotic agent under
controlled conditions of time and
the size of food material.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Mehdia Mihoubi and Ali Ferradji(2015)
did a study on the optimization of
osmotic dehydration of potato slices in
sugar solution using Response surface
methodology (RSM) to determine the
optimum processing conditions that
yield maximum water loss (WL), weight
reduction (WR) and minimum solid gain
(SG).
Mokhtar et al.( 2019) did a study on the
dehydration of potato slices following
brief dipping in osmotic solutions in
order to allow the osmotic medium to
occlude to the surface of the slices,
holding the slice under ambient
conditions.
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
Materials
The potato (sweet) and yam that will be used for this
study will be obtained from Use Offot market, Uyo in
Akwa Ibom state. Also, salt(NaCl) will be gotten from
the market for the preparation of the osmotic agent.
Methodology
The potato and yam slices will be immersed into the
osmotic solution which ranges from 10 – 30% in
concentration to determine the water loss and salt
content gained. Optimization of this process will be
carried out using RSM (Response Surface
Methodology).
 • The potato and yam tuber will be washed
with clean water, peeled manually and cut
Preparation into slices of dimensions ( 2 – 10mm) using
a very sharp stainless steel knife. The slices
Of The will be rinsed immediately in clean water
for about 1 min to remove surface starch
Potato And and other substances sticking to the
surface of the slices. Finally, the surface
Yam Slices water will be eliminated by using a
moistened towel.

Preparation • The osmotic solution will be obtained by

Of The dissolving commercial NaCl in water. The
concentration of the solution will be from
Osmotic 10 – 30%.
Solution
Osmotic Dehydration Treatment
The potato and yam slices would be divided into the
pretreated sample and the untreated sample. The
slices to be treated will be soaked in the osmotic
solution of different concentration of 10%, 15%,
20%, 25%,and 30%.The slices will be removed from
the solution at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 minutes after
immersion, drained, and the excess of solution on
the surface will be removed with absorbent paper.
Oven Drying
The treated and untreated sample will be subjected
to moisture analysis as the sample will be weighed
and placed in single layers on pre-weighed drying
trays, and there after loaded into the oven. The
sampled will be taken out for weighing after every 30
mins to determine the moisture loss until a constant
weight is obtained. Then the treated and untreated
samples will be compared.
 Model Name Model References
Lewis MR=exp(-kt) Westerman et al.(1973)
Henderson and MR=a exp(-kt) Yagcioglu et al. (1999)
Pabis

Logarithmic MR=a exp(-kt)+c Yaldiz and Ertekein

Mathematical models For Drying
(2001)
Different authors have come
up with various mathematical Page MR=exp (-kt^n) Page (1949)
models used for drying. Some Simplified Fick’s MR=a exp(-kt)+c Celma et al. (2007)
of those models can be seen Diffusion
in the table below.
Drying Kinetics
Drying kinetics is the representation of the drying rates
versus the drying time or the moisture content. It is a
graphical representation of the evolution of the
moisture content.
The above chosen models will be tested on each data to
determine their fitness. The model with the best fit will
be selected as that describing the drying process, drying
rate and other parameters will then be determined
from the selected models. The effect of treatments in
the osmotic solution on the drying behavior will then be
examined.