Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rehydration Modeling of Food Particulates Utilizing Principles of Water Transport in Porous Media

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Food Engineering Interfaces

Part of the book series: Food Engineering Series ((FSES))

  • 2968 Accesses

Abstract

Rehydration is related to the amount of water or other medium that a dry food absorbs during a process, and it is associated with the kinetics of the medium uptake. Water imbibition theory has a multidisciplinary validity, and has applicability in modeling the rehydration of dried porous food. Imbibition follows the general Lucas–Washburn equation. However, its utilization has highlighted the need for model improvement to overcome several discrepancies related mainly to the utilization of a single effective cylindrical capillary radius and a constant contact angle.

Basic theory of flow in porous media is widely utilized in several other domains (e.g., petroleum, chemical engineering) and plays a cardinal role in soil physics research. Because of the central role of soil water in agricultural systems, modeling of soil porous media, water flow, and mass transport has been promoted in interdisciplinary research and quantification. This multidisciplinary approach has also recently motivated a few studies on bridging of food science and soil physics, showing its high potential and providing insights into the mechanism(s) governing water and other liquid uptake by dry food particulates.

Analogous to a food sorption isotherm, the water characteristic curve of a porous media describes the functional relationship between water content and a matric potential under equilibrium conditions. This curve is an important property related to the pore size distribution and space that are strongly affected by texture and structure, as well as other related factors, including organic matter content. Continuous retention curve (RC) functions are needed in order to solve the flow equations. Numerous well-known empirical functions such as Brooks and Corey and van Genuchten have been developed. Utilization of porous media theory for modeling of food rehydration requires employment of a characteristic curve, which is time consuming and cumbersome. Bridging between sorption isotherms commonly utilized in food science with water characteristic curves employed in soil physics could furnish a novel and integrated approach paramount to overcoming some of the complexity that hampered previous attempts. This could lead to new avenues for studying and optimizing food rehydration.

The overall objective of this chapter is to depict current understanding of the rehydration process, and to highlight how a new approach derived from soil physics and porous media theory could be utilized for foods.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aguilera JM, Michel M, Mayor G (2004) Fat migration in chocolate: diffusion or capillary flow in a particulate solid? A hypothesis paper. J Food Sci 69:R167–R174

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bell LN, Labuza TP (2000) Moisture sorption – practical aspects of isotherm measurement and use. American Association of Cereal Chemists, St. Paul

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks RH, Corey AT (1966) Properties of porous media affecting fluid flow. J Irrig Drain E-Asce 2:61–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell GS (1974) A simple method for determining unsaturated conductivity from moisture retention data. Soil Sci l17:311–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell GS, Shiozawa S (1992) Prediction of hydraulic properties of soils using particle-size distribution and bulk density data. International Workshop on Indirect Methods for Estimating the Hydraulic Properties of Unsaturated Soils. University of California, Riverside, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Carbonell S, Hey MJ, Mitchell JR, Roberts CJ, Hipkiss J, Vercauteren J (2004) Capillary flow and rheology measurements on chocolate crum/sunflower oil mixtures. J Food Sci 69:E465–E470

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chiralt A, Fito P (2003) Transport mechanisms in osmotic dehydration: the role of the structure. Food Sci Technol Int 9:179–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunha LM, Oliveira FAR, Ilincanu LA (1998a) Application of the probabilistic Weibull distribution to rehydration kinetics: relationship between the model parameters and the underlying physical mechanisms. In: Oliveira JC, Oliveira FAR (eds) Proceedings of the 3rd workshop of the Copernicus project, Leuven, Belgium

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunha LM, Oliveira FAR, Oliveira JC (1998b) Optimal experimental design for estimating the kinetic parameters of processes described by the Weibull probability distribution function. J Food Eng 37:175–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham SE, McMinn WAM, Magee TRA, Richardson PS (2007) Modelling water absorption of pasta during soaking. J Food Eng 82:600–607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Datta AK (2007a) Porous media approaches to studying simultaneous heat and mass transfer in food processes. I: problem formulations. J Food Eng 80:90–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Datta AK (2007b) Porous media approaches to studying simultaneous heat and mass transfer in food processes. II: property data and representative results. J Food Eng 80:96–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fontana AJ Jr, Campbell GS (2007) Applications of water activity in non food systems. In: Barbosa-Canovas GV, Fontana AJ Jr, Schmidt SJ, Labuza TP (eds). Water Activity in Foods: Fundamentals and Applications. Chapter 14. IFT Press/Blackwell, Ames, IA

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Pascual P, Sanjuan N, Melis R, Mulet A (2006) Morchella esculenta (morel) rehydration process modelling. J Food Eng 72:346–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giraldo G, Vazquez R, Martin-Esparza ME, Chiralt A (2006) Rehydration kinetics and soluble solids lixiviation of candied mango fruit as affected by sucrose concentration. J Food Eng 77:825–834

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gowen A, Abu-Ghannam N, Frias J, Oliveira J (2007) Modelling the water absorption process in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) – the effect of blanching pre-treatment on water intake and texture kinetics. J Food Eng 78:810–819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillel D (1998) Environmental soil physics. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Hills BP, Babonneau F, Quantin VM, Gaudet F, Belton PS (1996) Radial NMR microimaging studies of the rehydration of extruded pasta. J Food Eng 27:71–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jury WA, Gardner WR (1991) Soil physics. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Karathanos VT, Kanellopoulos NK, Belessiotis VG (1996) Development of porous structure during air drying of agricultural plant products. J Food Eng 29:167–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klute A (1986) Water retention: Laboratory methods. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part I, physical and mineralogical methods, 2nd edn. American Society of Agronomy, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Krokida MK, Philippopoulos C (2005) Rehydration of dehydrated foods. Drying Technol 23:799–830

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee KT, Farid M, Nguang SK (2005) The mathematical modelling of the rehydration characteristics of fruits. J Food Eng 72:16–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas R (1918) Ueber das zeitgesetz des kapillar aufstiegs von Flussigkeiten. Kolloid-Zeitschrift 23:15–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Machado MF, Oliveira FAR, Gekas V (1997) Modeling water uptake and soluble solids losses by puffed breakfast cereal immersed in water or milk. In: Jowitt R (ed) Proceedings of the seventh international congress on engineering and food – Part I. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Marabi A, Dilak C, Shah J, Saguy IS (2004a) Kinetics of solids leaching during rehydration of particulate dry vegetables. J Food Sci 69:FEP91–FEP96

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marabi A, Jacobson M, Livings S, Saguy IS (2004b) Effect of mixing and viscosity on rehydration of dry food particulates. Eur Food Res Technol 218:339–344

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marabi A, Livings S, Jacobson M, Saguy IS (2003) Normalized Weibull distribution for modeling rehydration of food particulates. Eur Food Res Technol 217:311–318

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marabi A, Saguy IS (2004) Effect of porosity on rehydration of dry food particulates. J Sci Food Agr 84:1105–1110

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marabi A, Saguy IS (2005) Viscosity and starch particle size effects on rehydration of freeze-dried carrots. J Sci Food Agr 85:700–706

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marabi A, Saguy IS (2009) Rehydration and Reconstitution of Foods. In: Ratti C (ed) Advances in food dehydration. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmur A, Cohen RD (1997) Characterization of porous media by the kinetics of liquid penetration: the vertical capillaries model. J Colloid Interf Sci 189:299–304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maroulis ZB, Saravacos GD, Panagiotou NM, Krokida MK (2001) Moisture diffusivity data compilation for foodstuffs: effect of material moisture content and temperature. Int J Food Prop 4:225–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misra MK, Brooker DB (1980) Thin-layer drying and rewetting equations for shelled yellow corn. Trans ASAE 23:1254–1260

    Google Scholar 

  • Morel-Seytoux HJ, Nimmo JR (1999) Soil water retention and maximum capillary drive from saturation to oven dryness. Water Resour Res 35:2031–2041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira FAR, Ilincanu L (1999) Rehydration of dried plant tissues: Basic concepts and mathematical modeling. In: Oliveira FAR, Oliveira JC (eds) Processing foods. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Peleg M (1988) An empirical-model for the description of moisture sorption curves. J Food Sci 53:1216–1219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross PJ, Williams J, Bristow KL (1991) Equation for extending water-retention curves to dryness. Soil Sci Soc Am J 55:923–927

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossi C, Nimmo JR (1994) Modeling of soil water retention from saturation to oven dryness. Water Resour Res 30:701–708

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saguy IS, Marabi A, Wallach R (2005a) Liquid imbibition during rehydration of dry porous foods. Innov Food Sci Emerg Technol 6:37–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saguy IS, Marabi A, Wallach R (2005b) New approach to model rehydration of dry food particulates utilizing principles of liquid transport in porous media. Trends Food Sci Technol 16:495–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saguy IS, Troygot O, Marabi A, Wallach R (2007) Rehydration modeling of food particulates utilizing principles of water transport in porous media. Bangkok: 10th International Symposium on the Properties of Water (ISOPOW X). (Also Chapter 17. In: Reid DS, Sajjaanantakul T, Lillford PJ, Charoenrein S (eds) Water properties in food, health, pharmaceutical and biological systems: ISOPOW 10). Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Salvatori D, Andres A, Chiralt A, Fito P (1999) Osmotic dehydration progression in apple tissue II: generalized equations for concentration prediction. J Food Eng 42:133–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saravacos GD, Maroulis ZB (2001) Transport of water in food materials. Transport properties of foods. Marcel Dekker, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi XQ, Fito-Maupoey P (1994) Mass transfer in vacuum osmotic dehydration of fruits: a mathematical model approach. Lebensm Wiss Technol 27:67–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simunek J, van Genuchten MTh, Sejna M (2005) The HYDRUS-1D Software package for simulating the movement of water, heat, and multiple solutes in variably saturated media. [Version 3.0] Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh PP, Maier DE, Cushman JH, Haghighi K, Corvalan C (2004) Effect of viscoelastic relaxation on moisture transport in foods. Part I: Solution of general transport equation. J Math Biol 49:1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Tillotson JE (2003) Convenience foods. In: Trugo L, Finglas PM (eds) Encyclopedia food sciences and nutrition, 2nd edn. Academic, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • van Genuchten MTh (1980) A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44:892–898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallach R (2007) Physical characteristics of soilless media. In: Raviv M, Lieth JH (eds) Soilless culture: theory and practice. Elsevier, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Washburn EW (1921) The dynamics of capillary flow. Phys Rev 17:273–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb SW (2000) A simple extension of two-phase characteristic curves to include the dry region. Water Resour Res 36:1425–1430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weerts AH, Lian G, Martin D (2003a) Modeling rehydration of porous biomaterials: anisotropy effects. J Food Sci 68:937–942

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weerts AH, Lian G, Martin DR (2003b) Modeling the hydration of foodstuffs: temperature effects. AIChE J 49:1334–1339

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 12, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    I. Sam Saguy, Oranit Troygot & Alejandro Marabi

  2. Solid Products, Department of Food Science & Technology, Nestlé Research Center, Vers-Chez-Les-Blanc CH-1000, Lausanne 26, Switzerland

    Alejandro Marabi

  3. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 12, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Rony Wallach

Authors
  1. I. Sam Saguy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Oranit Troygot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alejandro Marabi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rony Wallach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to I. Sam Saguy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. de Ingeniería Química y Bioproceso, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuna Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile

    José Miguel Aguilera

  2. Depto. Procesos Químicos,, Biotecnológicos y Ambientales, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Av. España 1680, Vaparaiso, Chile

    Ricardo Simpson

  3. Dept. de Ingeneria Quimica y Alimentos, Universidad de las Americas-Puebla, Santa Catarina Matir 72820, Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

    Jorge Welti-Chanes

  4. Pullman, 99164, USA

    Daniela Bermudez-Aguirre

  5. , Department of Biological Systems Enginee, Washington State University, Pullman, 99164-6120, Washington, USA

    Gustavo Barbosa-Canovas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer New York

About this paper

Cite this paper

Saguy, I.S., Troygot, O., Marabi, A., Wallach, R. (2010). Rehydration Modeling of Food Particulates Utilizing Principles of Water Transport in Porous Media. In: Aguilera, J., Simpson, R., Welti-Chanes, J., Bermudez-Aguirre, D., Barbosa-Canovas, G. (eds) Food Engineering Interfaces. Food Engineering Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7475-4_21

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation