Moisture sorption isotherms of dehydrated whey proteins

Izoterme sorpcije vode opisuju odnos između udjela vode suhog materijala (hrane) i relativne vlažnosti okoline. U skladu s dobivenim podacima optimiraju se uvjeti procesa sušenja, pakiranja i skladištenja hrane koji će omogućiti maksimalno zadržavanje njene arome, boje, teksture te nutritivne i biološke vrijednosti. Svrha ovoga rada bila je utvrditi ravnotežnu koncentraciju vode i aktiviteta vode, te vrijednost monosloja dva komercijalna izolata proteina sirutke u prahu prije i nakon tribomehaničke mikronizacije, odnosno enzimske hidrolize. Istovremeno je bilo potrebno odabrati jednadžbu koja najbolje odgovara eksperimentalnim podacima. Ravnotežna koncentracija vode u ispitivanim uzorcima određena je standardnom gravimetrijskom metodom pri 20 °C u rasponu aktiviteta vode od 0,11 do 0,75. Vrijednosti monosloja izračunate su primjenom dva modela: Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) i Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB). Rezultati su pokazali da tribomehanički tretirani izolati proteina sirutke, odnosno hidrolizati proteina imaju niže vrijednosti monosloja, ali i veći pripadajući aktivitet vode. To znači da se, iako imaju manji udio vode, mogu čuvati u uvjetima veće relativne vlažnosti zraka u odnosu na netretirane uzorke. BET model pokazao se prikladnim kod određivanja monosloja u području aktiviteta vode od 0,11-0,54, dok je GAB model moguće primijeniti za područje aktiviteta do 0,75.Moisture sorption isotherms describe the relation between the moisture content of the dry material (food) and relative humidity of the surrounding environment. The data obtained are important in modelling of drying process conditions, packaging and shelf-life stability of food that will provide maximum retaining of aroma, colour and texture as well as nutritive and biological value. The objective of this research was to establish the equilibrium moisture content and water activity, as well as monolayer value of two commercial powdered whey protein isolates before and after tribomechanical micronisation and enzymatic hydrolysis, respectively. At the same time it was necessary to evaluate the best moisture sorption isotherm equation to fit the experimental data. The equilibrium moisture contents in investigated samples were determined using standard gravimetric method at 20 °C. The range of water activities was 0.11 to 0.75. The monolayer moisture content was estimated from sorption data using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB) models. The results have shown that tribomechanically treated whey protein isolates as well as protein hydrolizates had lower monolayer moisture content values as well as higher corresponding water activity. Therefore, in spite of the fact that they have lower moisture content, they can be storage at higher relative humidity compared to untreated samples. BET model gave better fit to experimental sorption data for a water activity range from 0.11-0.54, while GAB model gave the closest fit for a water activity to 0.75