Drying 2004 – Proceedings of the 14th International Drying Symposium (IDS 2004)

São Paulo, Brazil, 22-25 August 2004, vol. C, pp. 2077-2083

OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION OF BANANA SLICES AS A PRETREATMENT FOR

DRYING PROCESSES

Kephas Nowakunda1, Ana Andrés2 and Pedro Fito2

1
National Banana Research Programme, Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute,
P.O.BOX 7065, Kampala, Uganda
2
Department of Food Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia
Camino de Vera s/n. 46022 Valencia, Spain
e-mail: aandres@tal.upv.es

Key words: Drying, Mass transfer, Osmotic dehydration, Pre-treatment

ABSTRACT

Effects of Osmotic dehydration on mass transfer properties as water loss, solids gain,
and weight reduction during osmotic dehydration were investigated in order to
determine the usefulness of this technique as pre-treatment for further drying of
bananas slices. Banana slices, 10 mm thick, were immersed in sucrose solutions with
concentrations of 45, 55 and 65 Brix at 30, 40 and 50oC for 20, 40, 60,120 and 240
minutes. Water loss, weight reduction and solids gain increased with treatment time.
Longer treatment time in high concentrations of sucrose resulted in a very soft product,
which is difficult to handle and unsuitable for further drying. Increasing concentration
at the same temperature did not cause significant increments in weight change. Higher
concentrations of sucrose caused higher rates of water removal. About 50% of the
water loss occurred between 40 – 120 minutes for most of the conditions. This
technique can be used to produce good product for further drying. Results obtained
suggest that a product for further drying could be obtained by treating the slices at
temperatures not more than 30oC and using osmotic solutions at 55 or 65 Brix.

INTRODUCTION

Banana is the most important starchy staple in Uganda. Annual production was estimated at 9.84 million
tons, the second largest in the World, the first being India with 9.9 million tons (FAO, 1998; Lescot, 1999).
This represented 30 % of world production of cooking bananas and plantains and 11% of total world
banana production (FAO, 1994). In Uganda, banana (East African highland cooking banana) is a staple
food for more than 12 million people. The crops’ all year round fruiting habit makes it extremely
important as an income security crop for households.

2077
Most of the bananas produced in Uganda are consumed locally, with only a few, being exported to mainly
Western European markets and neighboring countries. Bananas are highly perishable and bulky. This makes
their transportation to distant and export markets costly, which implies a need to process the bananas into
shelf-sable, convenient and less bulky products important.
Dehydration has been identified as one of the most feasible method to reduce bulk and preserve the bananas.
Bananas are currently dried using various types of solar dryers both when raw and ripe (Pekke et al. 2001,
Brett et al., 1996). The raw fresh solar dried East African highland cooking bananas (AAA-EA) are either
reconstituted or eaten as boiled/steamed and mashed ‘matooke’, reduced into flour and used for porridge,
confectionary or paste. The ripe bananas, mainly dessert (apple banana and Cavendish), are exported mostly
to Western Europe and are eaten as dried slices.
However, solar drying is a slow and uncontrolled process and products obtained have unappealing color,
poor texture and taste and changed flavor, which significantly affect their acceptability (Pekke et al., 2001). It
is therefore necessary to devise drying techniques that reduce the bulk of the bananas, extend their shelf life,
preserve quality, enable wider utilization base and convert the banana into convenient food products, which
are easy to transport and prepare. Other drying methods have been developed to improve the dehydration
rate and quality of the products.
The use of osmotic agents and electromagnetic energy, such as radio frequency and micro-waves, have
been combined with air drying to improve the quality and market acceptability potential of dried fruits
and vegetables (Lazarides et al.1999; Donsi et al.1999; Fito et al. 1998).
Osmotic drying has been successfully used to reduce water activity of fruits and vegetables to about 0.9,
keeping much of the original quality. Osmotic dehydration is now considered a valuable tool in minimal
processing of foods. It can be applied either as an autonomous process or as a processing step in
alternative processing schemes leading to a variety of end products (Lazarides et al.1999). During
osmotic dehydration, a product is continuously immersed in the osmotic solution, making the process
oxygen free. There is, therefore, no need to use sulphur dioxide and/or blanching for protection against
oxidative and enzymatic discoloration. Also, the process takes place under mild heat treatment (<50oC)
which further flavor color and flavor retention, resulting in products with superior sensory characteristics
(Ponting, 1973). Osmotic dehydration is therefore one of the effective ways to reduce overall energy
requirements in dehydration and dehydro-freezing processes. Osmotic drying has been combined with
conventional drying methods such as hot air drying to produce shelf-stable fruit products. This paper reports
results of effects of osmotic treatment on mass transfer and some quality characteristics of green banana
slices.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Green bananas (Cavendish) from Uganda but bought in the local market in Valencia were peeled and
cut into slices of about 10 mm thickness. The slices were first characterized for aw, moisture content,
soluble solids, color and pH. They were then placed in compartmentalized holder, with each compartment
containing one sample. The holder had a hollow centre through which an agitator was passed to
continuously stir the solution. Sucrose solutions of 45, 55 and 65 Brix were used and process
temperatures were 30, 40 and 50ºC. Sample to solution ratio was 1:20. Experiences with 55B osmotic
solution at 40oC and 50oC temperatures were performed with and without a previous vacuum pulse (VP)
at 50 mbar for 5 minutes. Three of the samples were put in tagged compartments of the holder for
monitoring weight, color and volume changes during osmotic dehydration. The rest of the samples were
removed, two at a time for quality control during the osmotic treatment by destructive sampling at
20,40,60,120,180 and 240 minutes. Moisture content was determined according to the method described
in AOAC, Method 934.06. and soluble solutes were measured in a refractometer (ATAGO model NAR-
3T).
Change in weight ( Mt), water loss ( Mw) and sugar gain ( Mss) were calculated according to equations
1, 2 and 3:

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 M t − Mo
∆M t = (1)
Mo
M x − M o x wo
∆M w = t wt (2)
Mo
M x − M o x sso
∆M ss = t sst (3)
Mo

Where: Mo = original weight (g)

Mt = Weight at time t (g)
xwo = initial mass fraction of water (g/g)
xsso = initial mass fraction of soluble solutes (g/g)
xwt = mass fraction of water at time t (g/g)
xsst = mass fraction of soluble solutes at time t (g/g)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Considering that mass changes are attributed to the water loss and the sugar gain it is interesting to
plot the experimental results and to check if they fit the mass balance equation (Figure 1). It helps to
confirm whether the observed mass change is due to water loss and solids gain or if there are other
significant mass transfer changes taking place that are not being controlled. As Figure 1 indicates, there
was a general agreement between the experimental results and the mass balance equation although some
deviations from the equation become apparent for a group of experimental data corresponding to the
longer times of treatment.

Mt
0,00
-0,50 -0,40 -0,30 -0,20 -0,10 0,00 30ºC-45 B
-0,05

-0,10 30ºC-55B
30ºC-65B
-0,15
40ºC-45B
-0,20
Mss+ Mw

40ºC-55B
-0,25 40ºC-55B-VP
-0,30 40ºC-65B
-0,35 50ºC-45B
50ºC-55B
-0,40
50ºC-55B-VP
-0,45
50ºC-65B
-0,50

Figure 1. Correlation between mass changes and water loss plus sugar gain.

This could be attributed to the softening of the banana slices after longer time of osmotic treatment at
high temperature and high concentrated solution, leading to unaccounted for mass losses during wiping

2079
the slices of the sugar solution and overall process inefficiency due to structural collapse. This implies
that it should not be recommended to employ high temperatures and longer time during the osmotic
dehydration of the banana slices since a firm texture is important for further handling during subsequent
drying operations.
In all the cases the figures show, weight reduction, soluble solids content and water content were affected
by process time (Figure 2). Osmotic treatment promotes higher water loss than sugar gain since water
removal and solids gain take place due to different mechanisms. Solids gain is largely a diffusional
process while water removal is due to osmotic mechanism resulting from differences in water chemical
potential between the cells of the banana slices and osmotic solutions (Fito et al., 2001).
However, the rate of weight reduction and water removal reduced after between 0.5 hour and 1.5 hours of
osmotic treatment for all the process conditions. This implies that it is not necessary to dehydrate the
banana slices in the osmotic solutions for periods longer than 1.5 hours. An appreciable amount of water
is already removed by about 1.5 hours. Previous studies had indicated that while equilibrium of water
chemical potential in the product and solution is obtained after a long time, no significant mass exchange
took place after 4-5 hours; the real end-point of osmotic treatment can be specified by observed changes
in mass transfer data and the desired characteristics of the final product (Harris et al., 1999). Since
structure is important for subsequent handling and treatment of the banana slices, the end point for
bananas could even be within the first hour of osmotic treatment.
For all the process conditions studied, the water loss and sugar gain increased appreciably with the
increase in temperature (Figure 2).

0,200 0,200

0,000
Mss & Mw

0,000
Mss & Mw

0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300

-0,200 -0,200

-0,400 -0,400

-0,600 -0,600
Time (minutes) Time (minutes)
30ºC-45B water loss 30ºC-45B Solids gain 30ºC-55B water loss 30ºC-55B solids gain
40ºC-45B water loss 40ºC-45B solids gain 40ºC-55B water loss 40ºC-55B solids gain
50ºC-45B water loss 50ºC-45B solids gain 50ºC-55B water loss 50ºC-55B solids gain

0,2
0,1
0
Mss & Mw

-0,1 0 100 200 300

-0,2
-0,3
-0,4
-0,5
-0,6
Time (minutes)
30ºC-65B water loss 30ºC-65B solids gain
40ºC-65B water loss 40ºC-65B solids gain
50ºC-65B water loss 50ºC-65B solids gain

Figure 2. Influence of temperature on water loss and solids gain for different concentration of the osmotic solution (45, 55 and
65 Brix).

2080
Increasing temperature promotes faster mass transfer on the product due to lower viscosity of the osmotic
medium (Harris et al., 1999). Solids intake is largely a diffusional process which is promoted by high
temperature and the permeability of the cell membrane is also affected by temperature, hence the
observed behavior.
Despite a general noticeable improvement in water reduction due to increasing the osmotic solution
concentration at the same temperature, appreciable increments were realized only at 30oC (Figure 3). For
other conditions the increments were not significant as expected.

30ºC 40ºC
0,2 0,2
0,1 0,1
0,0 0
∆M w & ∆M ss

∆M w & ∆M ss
-0,1 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 -0,1 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
-0,2 -0,2
-0,3 -0,3
-0,4 -0,4
-0,5 -0,5
-0,6 -0,6
time (min) time (min)

w-45B ss-45B w-55B ss-55B

ss-45B w-55B ss-55B w-65B ss-65B w-45B
w-55B-VP ss-55B-VP w-65B ss-65B

50ºC
0,2
0,1
0
∆M w & ∆M ss

-0,1 0 50 100 150 200 250 300

-0,2
-0,3
-0,4
-0,5
-0,6
time (min)

w-45B ss-45B w-55B ss-55B

w-55B-VP ss-55B-VP w-65B ss-65B

Figure 3. Influence of osmotic solution concentration on water loss and solutes gain at 30, 40 and 50ºC.

This observation may be attributed to cell collapse resulting in obstructions in water movement as
concentration and temperature is increased, reducing the efficiency of water removal. Contreras and
Smryl, (1981) reported that increasing the osmotic solution concentration to 65% did not result in faster
weight.
Results obtained indicated though there was a general increase in water reduction in samples treated with
a pulse pressure, the increments were not significant. There was, however, a significant increase in
soluble solids content. This occurs because when a low pressure is applied to the sample capillary
impregnation is promoted and when the atmospheric pressure is restored, pores are extensively flooded
with external solution hence high soluble solids gain (Fito et al. 2001).
These results suggest that since the vacuum pulse (VP) did not appreciably improve water loss, and
instead improved solids gain, it implies that application of a vacuum pulse is only useful when
impregnation of the sample with the solution is the primary objective of the osmotic pre-treatment. It is
not necessary in processes where the primary objective is water reduction.

2081
The ratio between sugar gain and water loss (∆Mss/∆Mw) is a very useful parameter to select the most
appropriated process conditions to be use in the osmotic pretreatment. Figure 4 shows the values of
∆Mss/∆Mw ratio obtained at different working conditions were important differences can be appreciated
during the first hour of treatment. The results therefore suggest that treatments carried out at 30 ºC are
the ones were lower ratios of ∆Mss/∆Mw are obtained, and hence an optimal water loss without an
excessive sugar gain, being also advantageous in terms of energy saving.

0,450
30ºC-45B
0,400
30ºC-55B
0,350 40ºC-45B
0,300 40ºC-55B
∆Mss/∆Mw

0,250 40ºC-55B-VP
40ºC-65B
0,200
30ºC-65B
0,150 50ºC-45B
0,100 50ºC-55B
50ºC-65B
0,050
50ºC-55B-VP
0,000
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
time (min)
Figure 4. Evolution of sugar gain/water loss ratio for the different process conditions

Osmotic solutions of 55 and 65 Brix seem to be the optimal concentrations to obtain higher water loss and
the duration of the osmotic pre-treatment will depend on the maximum sugar uptake considered
acceptable from sensorial point of view.

CONCLUSIONS
Most efficient water removal occurred between 0.5 to 2 hours indicating that it may not be necessary
to carry out the osmotic treatment step for longer hours. However, water loss, solids gain and weight loss
increased with longer time of treatment.
The results also suggest that for bananas, temperature is an important variable. Due to the soft texture of
bananas, osmotic treatment of bananas needs not to be done at extreme conditions of temperature and
concentration.
Results obtained suggest that a product for further drying could be obtained by treating the slices at
temperatures not more than 30oC and using osmotic solutions at 55 or 65 Brix.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors acknowledge the European Union (INCO-DEV/ICA4-2001-10047) for their financial
support given to this research.

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