Convective drying of orange pomace at different temperatures and characterization of the obtained powders.

In the present study drying of orange pomace was carried out at 50, 60 and 70 °Cand drying kinetics was evaluated. The characterization of the orange pomace powder dried at the three different temperatures was carried out. Modified page model was found to best fit the data on drying, whereas effective moisture diffusivity ranged from 3.34 × 10-10 to 1.06 × 10-9 m2/s and the activation energy obtained was 53.07 kJ/mol. The results from powder characterization showed that the chemical composition, water holding capacity and oil holding capacity were not influenced by temperature. The emulsifying activity, swelling capacity and crystallinity were improved by increasing the temperature of drying. The antioxidant capacity and vitamin C content were observed to decrease with increase in drying temperature. There were no noticeable changes in the functional groups or structure due to temperature. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2021.