The Intensification of Vacuum Freeze Drying of Viburnum Fruits Utilizing Low-Temperature Plasma Pre-Treatment

Introduction: The duration of classical vacuum freeze drying during the processing of whole wild berries can reach more than 120 hours directly affecting the availability of the final product to consumers. In this regard, the search for solutions to reduce the duration of the vacuum freeze drying process while maintaining the high quality of the resulting product is an urgent production task.

Purpose: Intensification of vacuum freeze drying of viburnum fruits due to the formation of additional channels on the surface shell using pre-treatment with low-temperature plasma to reduce the total drying time of this type of raw material.

Materials and Methods: Low-current spark and arc discharge modes supported by thermionic emission were chosen as a variation of low-temperature plasma treatment. Viburnum fruits dehydrated by vacuum freeze drying were analyzed for microstructural changes, drying kinetics and quality indicators. Low-temperature plasma treatment was carried out on the installation in the field strength mode of 8 kV/cm and 6 kV/ cm and the discharge current values of 1 mA and 10 mA for spark and arc modes, respectively.

Results: It is shown that pre-treatment with low-temperature plasma in the arc discharge mode significantly intensifies the process of vacuum freeze drying of fruits due to the channels formed on the surface of the integument. Pre-treatment with low-temperature plasma made it possible to increase the drying speed by three times and reduce the overall duration of the process. The quality indicators of dehydrated viburnum fruits with pre-treatment with low-temperature plasma remained at a high level.

Conclusion: Current study demonstrates the efficiency of using low-temperature plasma treatment at the stage of preparing fruit and berry raw materials for vacuum freeze drying processes. The selected low-current discharge mode allows to reduce the total material and energy costs. This work contributes to the development of electrophysical methods for the intensification of complex heat and mass transfer processes.

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