ISSN:
1750-3841
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
,
Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
Notes:
The objective was to develop an equation to calculate the aw of a mixture of known composition at a given moisture content. A simple equation was derived by combining the Smith isotherm with the Lang-Steinberg mass balance: log (1–aw) = [MW–Σ(aiwi)]/Σ(biwi) where M is moisture content of the mixture, W is total dry weight of the mixture, ai and bi are Smith isotherm parameters for the individual ingredient, and wi is the dry weight of the ingredient. For comparison of experimental and calculated aw values, an experimental value was used to calculate M from the mixture isotherm and this M was used to calculate aw, from the model. Four binary and one ternary mixtures of two macromolecules, two solutes and one complex ingredient were included. Twenty-one comparisons between calculated and experimental aw, over aw 0.30–0.95 resulted in a maximum error of only 1.86% and a mean error of -0.25%, showing excellent agreement. Only one constraint was found; when the mixture contains i solute (sugar or salt) and the aw, is below the aw of saturation for that solute, that solute is deleted from the summations in the Model.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1981.tb15320.x
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