Optimization of drying conditions of Echium amoenum petals in fluidized bed dryer using response surface methodology

The interest about phenolic compounds has been increasing in recent years, mainly due to their beneficial effects on human health, focusing on many different food products. In this way, and since Echium amoenum petals are an important source of dietary intake of phenolic compounds, this work was done to evaluate the effect of temperature and air velocity on total phenolic content of Echium amoenum petals during drying. Experiments were conducted at 40, 50 and 600 , as well as at air velocities of 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 m/s. the results show that the total phenolics decreased with temperature, but at high air velocity retardation of thermal degradation was observed. Drying conditions for Echium amoenum petals were optimized using response surface methodology. The optimum condition obtained using the desirability function for achieving the desired product was found at the temperature of 59.99 and the air velocity of 0.93 m/s. The values of total phenolic content and drying time at the optimum drying condition were 0.622 mg/ g dry matter and 68 min, respectively.

Keywords:

Drying , Phenolic compounds , Echium amoenum petals , optimum value , response surface methodology