Drying kinetics of araticum (Annona crassiflora) epicarp

Abstract Araticum (Annona crassiflora) fruits have relevant characteristics for industrialization, a characteristic aroma and a slightly acidic flavor, with relevant amounts of vitamins A, C, B1 and B2. The objective of this study was to fit different mathematical models to the experimental data, evaluate the effective diffusion coefficient and determine the activation energy for the araticum epicarp subjected to different drying conditions. The epicarps of araticum fruits were dried at temperatures of 40, 50, 60 and 70 °C. Midilli, Logarithmic and Two Terms models can be used to represent the drying of araticum epicarp, and the Two Terms model was selected according to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Schwarz’s Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). The linear model satisfactorily represented the effective diffusion coefficient as a function of drying temperature. In the evaluation of enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs free energy, both enthalpy and entropy tend to decrease when temperature increases. The higher the temperature used for drying of araticum epicarp, the lower the value of diffusivity, i.e., the lower the resistance to water removal.