Drying kinetics of Moringa oleifera

Abstract

Currently in several points of Mexico, as in the municipalities of Tuzantla, Mugica, Uruapan, Michoacan; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Torreon, Coahuila, Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Chiapa of Corzo, these last two in the state of Chiapas, there are plantations of Moringa oleifera trees for commercial purposes; however, producers have not found an adequate procedure that contributes to improving the final quality of said plant. The objective was to find a suitable drying process for this product, for which its kinetics of drying will be studied. The moringa was dried in a hybrid solar dryer at different temperatures (40 °C, 50 °C and 60 °C) during the month of May, recording the loss of mass and determining the free humidity for each temperature, through the balance Velab VE-24 analytical and Velab VE-50-5 thermo-balance. The curves were obtained from the analysis and processing of the experimental data through a program elaborated in Matlab and it was determined which of the selected mathematical models (Newton, Page, Henderson and Verma) was better adjusted to them. Determining that the Page model is the one that best describes the moringa's kinetics of drying. The diffusion coefficient and the activation energy were calculated for this case. Finally, the organoleptic quality of the product was evaluated by comparing it with other commercial samples of moringa, through the application of surveys. The drying curves show a decrease in the drying time when the temperature increases, resulting in a better quality of the dried product. Samples that were dried at 60 °C showed better characteristics of color, taste, smell and texture according to the organoleptic evaluation.