EFFECT OF ULTRASOUND PRE-TREATMENT ON DRYING KINETICS AND QUALITY PROPERTIES OF JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE

Abstract

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tu-berosus L.) is primarily used as a biomass for ethanol production. It is also utilized for human consumption as a healthy snack by having good nutritional value and inulin content. In this study, ultrasound pre-treatment (USPT) was selected to minimize drying de-fects and 5, 10, and 15 min. treatments were applied before hot air drying at 60 °C and 80 °C. The effect of pre-treatment on drying performances and proper-ties including color, total phenolic content and total antioxidant were investigated. Effective diffusion co-efficient values ranged from 1.72 × 10-8 m2/min to 2.94 × 10-8 to m2/min, and it was observed that the effective moisture diffusion coefficient was higher in the sam-ples where ultrasound was applied compared to the control sample. L * value 72.72 ± 2.71 was found high-est at samples that were 5 minutes ultrasound treated and dried at 60 °C for 60 minutes. The highest antiox-idant and phenolic content in the drying process at 60 °C was determined in the samples where ultrasound was applied for 15 minutes. As a result, the applica-tion of USPT can result in a better conserved quality in a shorter drying time with the required final prod-uct moisture content