WATER ABSORPTION CHARACTERISTICS OF APRICOT KERNELS DURING SOAKING

ABSTRACT The aim of this research was to investigate water absorption characteristics of apricot kernels using Peleg's model between temperatures of 20 and 50C. The Peleg constant K1 decreased from 5.52 × 10−2 to 1.63 × 10−2/h% for apricot kernels with increasing temperature from 20 to 50C. An inverse linear relationship was found for the soaking temperature and Peleg constant K1, while Peleg constant K2 was unaffected by the soaking temperature. The predictive capability of Peleg's equation for apricot kernels was tested, and differences between experimental and predicted moisture content values were not significant at 5% level (P < 0.05). The average activation energy (Ea) for K1 was 29.4 kJ/mol.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSTechnological processing of shells and kernels includes a washing, sorting, cracking and separation process. Apricot kernels are subject to major quality loss during processing. Especially the relationship between kernels and water is important during the washing process. The diffusion of moisture into the kernel during moisture addition is influenced by the water temperature. In such operations, it is desirable to predict the diffusion of moisture as a function of time and temperature.