Hybrid drying of ultrasound assisted osmotic dehydration (UOAD) and hot air drying of Eucalyptus deglupta

Abstract

Eucalyptus deglupta is one of the promising medicinal plants from Mytracea family consisting of bioactive compounds that are to be used in medications. The bioactive compounds present in Eucalyptus deglupta were extracted at the best yield using a hybrid drying method consisting of ultrasound assisted osmotic dehydration (UOAD) and hot air drying in this study. The drying conditions of UAOD were optimised with response surface methodology (RSM) to attain the highest antioxidant activity via of DPPH radical scavenging assay. Four parameters were optimised with response surface methodology, namely concentration of sucrose (v/w), temperature (°C), duration of drying and intensity of ultrasound (%) ranged from 30% to 50%, 20°C to 60°C, 40 min to 100 min and 60% to 100%, respectively. A series of 27 combinations of the UAOD drying conditions were performed and followed by hot air drying performed at 60°C until a constant weight was achieved. A moderate scavenging activity of DPPH assay (56.12%) was achieved at a concentration of sucrose, temperature, duration of drying and intensity of ultrasound of 50%, 40°C, 100 min and 264 W, respectively.