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Study of Drying Uniformity in Pulsed Spouted

MicrowaveVacuum Drying of Stem Lettuce
Slices with Regard to Product Quality
ARTICLE in DRYING TECHNOLOGY JANUARY 2013
Impact Factor: 1.52 DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2012.721431

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Study of Drying Uniformity in Pulsed Spouted

MicrowaveVacuum Drying of Stem Lettuce Slices with
Regard to Product Quality
a

Yuchuan Wang , Min Zhang , Arun S. Mujumdar , Kebitsamang Joseph Mothibe & S. M.
Roknul Azam

State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu,
China
b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Version of record first published: 10 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: Yuchuan Wang , Min Zhang , Arun S. Mujumdar , Kebitsamang Joseph Mothibe & S. M. Roknul Azam (2013):
Study of Drying Uniformity in Pulsed Spouted MicrowaveVacuum Drying of Stem Lettuce Slices with Regard to Product Quality,
Drying Technology: An International Journal, 31:1, 91-101
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Drying Technology, 31: 91101, 2013

Copyright # 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0737-3937 print=1532-2300 online
DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2012.721431

Study of Drying Uniformity in Pulsed Spouted

MicrowaveVacuum Drying of Stem Lettuce Slices with
Regard to Product Quality
Yuchuan Wang,1 Min Zhang,1 Arun S. Mujumdar,2 Kebitsamang Joseph Mothibe,1
and S. M. Roknul Azam1
1

State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore

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offer unique advantages,[3,4]the inherent problem preventing

its widespread use is the inherent nonuniform temperature
distribution caused by uneven spatial distribution of the
electromagnetic eld inside the drying cavity. This results
in hot and cold spots in the dried product. Moreover, it is
difcult to monitor or control the electromagnetic eld distribution and its effect. The nonuniform temperature distribution can not only inuence the quality of the dried
product but also poses the issue of food safety.[57]
The uniformity of microwavevacuum drying of products is inuenced by many factors, such as vacuum cavity
effects, product attributes, and their spatial location in the
microwave cavity. In the last few decades, many researchers
have studied the drying characteristics of food materials,
both experimentally[811] and theoretically using analytical
and numerical methods.[1214] Moreover, many experimental
research studies have been conducted using a rotating turntable microwave cavity in which product uniformity has
rarely been investigated using mechanical moving mode
stirrers.[15] Some investigators suggested that more uniform
drying could be achieved by using mechanical moving mode
stirrers or waveguide rotating joints or by simple agitation of
the workload, as well as by using a cylindrical-shaped cavity
and several adjustable magnetrons.[16,17] Although some
solutions have been provided, the results are conned to
specic conditions and cannot be generalized.[4,6]
The objectives of this study were to (a) improve microwavevacuum drying uniformity by introducing a pulsepneumatic agitation in a laboratory system and (b) compare pulsed spouted microwavevacuum drying (PSMVD)
with conventional rotating turntable microwavevacuum
drying (MVD) based on the quality and drying characteristics of stem lettuce slices.

Drying uniformity, shrinkage, rehydration, and textural properties were measured to evaluate the quality of pulsed spouted microwavevacuum-dried stem lettuce slices. Drying was carried out in a
5-cm (od) vacuum drying chamber at 710 kPa and microwave
power level of 2.4 Wg
1. Pulsed spouted microwavevacuum-dried
products were found to be more uniform compared to those obtained
in a conventional rotating turntable microwavevacuum dryer. The
pulsed spouted mode also resulted in dried stem lettuce slices with
low discoloration and high rehydration capacity as well as high
hardness after rehydration. The total drying time required for
pulsed spouted bed microwavevacuum-dried products was approximately 60 min, reduced by 50% compared to conventional rotating
turntable microwavedried ones.
Keywords Drying uniformity; Pulsed spouted microwave
vacuum dryer; Quality; Stem lettuce slices

INTRODUCTION
Stem lettuce is a highly valuable vegetable, especially in
China, and is noted for its edible stems. Large amounts of
hot airdried stem lettuce are produced each year and used
as a food ingredient in fast foods such as instant noodles. Poor
quality and high energy consumption are serious concerns.
Due to their heat sensitivity, vacuum drying methods provide
a good solution to obtain high-quality dried stem lettuce.
Conventional vacuum drying (VD) is a time-consuming
and highly energy-intensive unit operation in postharvest
and food preservation processes.[1,2] To reduce drying
time and thus reduce net energy consumption, microwave
drying is highly recommended. Microwavevacuum drying
combines the advantages of both vacuum drying and
microwave drying because it can improve energy efciency
as well as product quality. The benets and drawbacks of
microwavevacuum drying in the food and pharmaceutical
industries are well known. Though microwave drying can

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Material Preparation
Fresh stem lettuce (Lactucasativa L.) obtained from Hai
Tong Group farm in Ning Bo, China, were washed, peeled,

Correspondence: Min Zhang, School of Food Science and

Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi
214122, Jiangsu Province, China; E-mail: min@jiangnan.edu.cn

91

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92

WANG ET AL.

FIG. 1. Pictures of stem lettuce slices dried using VD, MVD, and
PSMVD compared to pretreated stem lettuce slices: (a) pretreated sample;
(b) VD sample; (c) MVD sample; and (d) PSMVD sample (color gure
available online).

cut into slices (12 mm diameter and 5 mm thickness; see

Fig. 1a) with a cutting machine and then kept at 4 C and
95% relative humidity in a refrigerator. Two batches of pretreated stem lettuce slices were used. The rst batch was
used to study the drying uniformity based on temperature,
moisture content (MC), color difference, shrinkage, and
drying rate during MVD and PSMVD. The second batch
was used to study the effects of different drying methods
(VD, MVD, and PSMVD) on the quality factors of dried
stem lettuce slices, such as color, apparent density, rehydration capacity (RC), and texture. Table 1 shows the experimental plan for pretreated samples used in this study. The
MC, color, and apparent density of the fresh stem lettuce
slices were measured before drying tests.

Experimental Apparatus
A newly developed experimental apparatus, which has
been explained in the recent patent,[18] was used for
PSMVD tests (Figs. 2 and 3).The system consisted of the
following six basic systems: (1) a cylindrical multimode
microwave cavity (stainless steel, 40 cm od,200 cm high)
with four microwave generators(at 2,450 MHz) distributed
symmetrically along with the microwave cavity height; (2) a
circular duct vacuum drying chamber (Teon, 5.0 cm od,
0.5 cm wall thickness, 200 cm high); (3) a pulsed spouted
system equipped with a set of adjustable air ow and distributive unit as well as a set of air handing units of
1 m3=min capacity (modelBST-1HTF,Shanghai Bstair
Industrial Development Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China); (4)
a heat supply system. Each magnetrons power output
could be regulated between 0.1 and 1.0 kW by a GPA1800W microwave power controller (Gospell Electric
Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China); (5)a water load
system. The water load system was added to prevent the
magnetron from overheating, using a cooling=heating
water unit (model HAAKE DC10-K10, Thermo Electron
Corporation, Karlsruhe, Germany). The circulating water
temperature could be monitored and the power absorbed
by the water load could be calculated accordingly; and (6)
a vacuum system equipped with a cooler and a water-ring
vacuum pump with a pumping rate of 1 m3=min (model
LD-60A, Nantong Zenith Machinery Manufacturing Co.,
Ltd., Nantong, China). The pressure inside the drying chamber could be regulated between 3.5 and 100 kPa. The vacuum system was used for all drying methods (VD, MVD,
and PSMVD). In order to prevent particulates from escaping from the top of drying chamber during spouting, a screen
plate valve was xed on the top of the drying chamber.
A modied experimental apparatus, originally designed
by Cui et al.,[19] was used for MVD tests (Fig. 4).The system consists of the following ve basic sections:(1) a square
multimode microwave drying cavity (stainless steel,
36  34  26 cm); (2) a glass rotating turntable (5 rpm,
rotation speed) and a cylindrical plastic dish (25 cm od

TABLE 1
Experimental plan of the study
Pretreated
sample
First batch

Applications
Microwavevacuum drying (MVD
and PSMVD)

Second batch Vacuum drying (VD, MVD and

PSMVD)

Measurements
Drying uniformity (temperature, moisture content, color
difference and shrinkage)
Drying characteristics
Apparent density
Rehydration capacity
Texture
Microstructure

DRYING OF STEM LETTUCE SLICES

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FIG. 2. (A) Laboratory vacuum dehydration equipment and (B)

PSMVD system (color gure available online).

FIG. 3. Schematic diagram of pulsed spouted microwavevacuum drying system (color gure available online).

and 2 cm deep) containing the samples being dried. The bottom of the dish was made of 6-mm-diameter mesh to allow
removal of water from the bottom of the sample. The dish
was supported by a plastic tri-foot stand on top of a turntable; (3) a microwave generator. The magnetrons (at
2,450 MHz) output power could be regulated between 0.1
and 1.0 kW; (4) a ber-optic temperature on-line measurement system. The ber-optic temperature probe was xed
on a glass bar to avoid movement; and (5) a vacuum system.
Experimental Procedure
For PSMVD, 200  0.5 g of pretreated samples (per
batch) was put into the drying chamber from the top while
the bottom of the drying chamber was blocked with a silicon rubber stopper together with a gas distributor and
ber-optic temperature probe (Fig. 3). For MVD, the same
amount of sample was spread on a cylindrical plastic dish
and then placed on the turntable (Fig. 4). Microwave heating was started when the pressure inside the drying
chamber=square microwave cavity reached 7 kPa absolute
for both PSMVD and MVD.

93

During PSMVD, the samples were spouted in the time

interval by allowing air to ow periodically into the duct
drying chamber by use of electromagnetic valve, which
was turned on for 2 s and off for 3 s. In the PSMVD process, air temperature, relative humidity, and velocity were
preset as 20  1 C, 30  5%, and 3.5 m=s, respectively.
The air ow rate was regulated by a manual ux adjusting
valve (Fig. 3), ensuring that the pressure uctuated within
the drying chamber from 7 to 10 kPa. During MVD, the
drying process was performed at 7 kPa. Both drying processes were conducted at a microwave power level of
480 W. An electric heating vacuum oven (modelDZF-6050,
Shanghai Jing Hong Laboratory Equipment Co., Ltd.,
Shanghai, China) was used for VD as a control. The same
sample load (200 g) and absolute pressure (7 kPa) were used
at a heating temperature of 60 C for 270 min.
The average initial MC of the pretreated stem lettuce
slices was 96.4  1.1% (wb). They were dried to a nal
MC of 6.5%.During the drying process, samples were withdrawn at 15 and 30 min time intervals in PSMVD and
MVD, respectively, for determination of the weight loss,
shrinkage, and color changes. After each batch of measurements, the samples were discarded. Another batch of pretreated sample was dried until preset time intervals and
measurements were performed. The same procedure was
done until the desired MC was achieved. The dried samples
were immediately heat sealed in polyethylene bags after
drying for storage until further analyses. All of the drying
experiments were performed in triplicate.
Analysis Methods
Drying Uniformity
Drying uniformity is dened as the relative standard
deviation (RSD; ratio of standard deviation to mean
measurement value) of temperature, MC, color, and
shrinkage. In this study, 12 stem lettuce slices were selected
per batch for measurements.
Temperature uniformity during microwavevacuum
drying was examined by measuring surface=central temperature of individual stem lettuce slices from different
locations. A ber-optic thermometer (model MAD-A,
Neoptix Inc., Quebec, Canada) was used for on-line temperature measurements of stem lettuce slices at the central
and edge locations of the air distributor during PSMVD
(Fig. 3). The center temperature of stem lettuce slices above
the central and edge locations of the rotating sample dish
was also measured on-line during MVD (Fig. 4).
In addition, an infrared thermal imaging camera (IRI
4010 Multi-Purpose Imager, IRISYS, Northampton, UK)
was used to determine the temperature distributions of
stem lettuce slices during MVD and PSMVD at different
time intervals (20 min for PSMVD and 30 min for MVD).
For PSMVD, the samples were taken out of the drying

94

WANG ET AL.

the dried sample was expressed as:

SR

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FIG. 4. Schematic diagram of rotating turntable microwavevacuum

drying system.

chamber and immediately put into an insulated cylindrical

plastic vessel (15 cm od, 10 cm depth) for determination of
the temperature distributions. For MVD, the temperature
distribution was measured directly on the sample tray
immediately after it was taken out of the drying chamber.
After each batch of measurements, the samples were discarded. Another batch of samples was put into the dryer
and thermal imaging of the samples was noted until the
next time point.
Randomly chosen stem lettuce slices (12 slices) of pretreated samples from each batch were used to measure uniformity (MC, color, and shrinkage). These samples were
rst measured for weight, color, and volume individually
and tied with threads of different colors. For PSMVD
the samples were placed in the drying chamber and for
MVD they were placed on the rotating sample dish and
arranged in a radial position. The weight of the samples
was measured using a PL203 analytical balance with precision of 0.0001 g (Mettler-Toledo Instrument Co. Ltd.,
Shanghai, China). All measurements were performed in
triplicate and the average weight loss values were recorded.
Color Measurement
Sample surface color measurements were conducted
using a CR-400 Chroma Meter (Konica Minolta Sensing
Inc., Tokyo, Japan). The color difference (DE) was used to
describe the color change during drying and was calculated
using the color values of fresh stem lettuce as a standard.
q
DE L0
L 2 a0
a 2 b0
b 2

where L0 , a0 , and b0 are the color readings of fresh stem
lettuce slices.
Apparent Density
The shrinkage ratio (SR) was measured in order to estimate volume changes in the samples being dried. The SR of

Vd
V0

where V0 and Vd are the volume of the sample (cm3) before

and after drying, respectively.
The method used to determine the apparent relative
density (ARD) of coal[20] was applied to measure the
ARD of stem lettuce slices in this study. The sample was
rst weighed and then dipped in melted wax (at 6070 C)
for 2 min. Before measuring the weight, the wax-coated
sample was cooled to room temperature. Subsequently,
the sample was put in a 60-mL density bottle with a neck
diameter of 1.6 cm and then lled with 1g L
1 sodium
dodecyl sulfate solution. Before the third reading was
taken, the relative density measuring bottle with capillary
stopper was held at 20  0.5 C for 1 h. Finally, a fourth
reading was recorded by weighing the density bottle lled
with distilled water. The ARD of the fresh and dried samples at 20 Cwasthen calculated as:
ARD h

m2 m4
m3
ds

m1
h
i

m1

md2 wax
 dw20

where m1 and m2 are the mass (g) of the sample before and
after coating wax, respectively; m3 refers to the density bottle plus 1 g L
1 sodium dodecyl sulfatedistilled water solution and the wax-coated sample; m4 refers to the density
bottle plus distilled water only; and ds, dwax, and dw20 are
the density of the 1 g L
1 sodium dodecyl sulfatedistilled
water solution at 20 C (0.99847 kgdm
3), wax, and distilled water (about 1.00000 kgdm
3), respectively.
The dwax was measured using a buoyant force
method.[21] Before weighing, the wax was melted and made
into a 15 g wax cake by a standard module, and then added
to a 1 g L
1 sodium dodecyl sulfate solution attached to a
15 g brass rod using a thin string. Second readings were
then taken with the sample and brass rod submerged.
Finally, third readings were taken when only brass rod
was submerged into the solution. The wax density was then
calculated as:
dwax

m1
m1
m2
m3 =ds

where m1 is the mass (g) of the wax, and m2 and m3 are the
wax plus brass rod and the brass rod only in the 1 gL
1
sodium dodecyl sulfate solution, respectively. The value for
the density of wax used in this study was 0.9126 kg dm
3.
The apparent volume of the fresh and dried stem lettuce
slices was calculated from the measured of density and
mass values. The weight of the samples was measured with
an analytical balance (0.0001 g). All measurements were
performed three times and the average values were used.

DRYING OF STEM LETTUCE SLICES

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Moisture Content
The initial and nal MCs were measured using the vacuum oven method at 60  5 C and 4053 kPa.[22] The MC
of the samples taken from the drying chamber at preset
time intervals top lot the drying curve was calculated by
their weight loss as well as the MC of the samples before
and after drying. The MC of individual slices from 12 stem
lettuce slices was also calculated using this method. The
average values of three measurements were recorded.
Rehydration
The rehydration ratio of dried stem lettuce slices was
determined by immersing about 2 g of dried samples in
200 mL of water at 95 C for 5 min (according to instructions for cooking instant noodles). Before weighing, the
sample was immediately drained and cooled for 5 min by
blowing with a fan until there was no visible water on
the surface of the samples. The following formula
described by Lewicki[23]was used to calculate the RC:

RC

mass of water absorbed during rehydration

 100
mass of water removed during drying
5

The RC measurements were conducted in triplicate for

all tests and average values were reported.
Texture
The textural properties of the dried samples after rehydration were measured using a texture analyzer (model
TA-XT2, Stable Micro System Ltd., Leicestershire, UK).
A forcetime curve was developed and analyzed using the
software Texture Exponent 32 (Stable Micro System
Ltd., Surrey, UK). The instrument was calibrated with a
1-kg load cell and tted with a at-ended aluminum probe
of diameter 36 mm (Code P=36R, Stable Micro System
Ltd., Surrey, UK). The parameters were preset as follow:
pretest speed 1 mm=s, test speed 0.5 mm=s, posttest
speed 10 mm=s, strain 60%, and trigger force 5g,
respectively. The average values of rmness from ve measurements were calculated for each experimental condition.
Scanning Electron Microscopy
Microstructures of stem lettuce slices dried with VD,
MVD, and PSMVD were measured using a scanning
electron microscope (S-4800, Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan) at
an accelerating voltage of 1.0 kV. Dried samples were
coated using a goldpalladium alloy coater (Baltec Co.,
Manchester, NH), and the samples were observed at
400  magnication. Stem lettuce slices dried by freeze
drying (FD) were used as standard reference samples to
observe the microstructure of fresh stem lettuce slices.

95

Data Analysis
MATLAB (ver.7.01) was used to analyze the statistical
signicance of the collected data and analyses of variance
were performed. Mean values were considered signicantly
different at p  0.05.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Drying Curve
Drying curves of the microwavevacuum-dried stem lettuce slices with pulsed spouted and rotating turntable modes
were compared (Fig. 5). The total drying time required for
stem lettuce slices dried with PSMVD was 60 min and for
MVD it was less than 120 min. The two drying curves
shown in Fig. 5 can roughly be divided into two drying
stages. In the rst drying stage including a short initial drying stage, the MC decreased from 26.93 to lower than 2 g=g
(db). In the second drying stage, the MC decreased from
about 2 to a nal MC of 0.07 g=g (db). In the rst drying
stage there was a sharp decrease in both MC and drying
rate, as well as shorter drying time (30 min) for PSMVD
and a slow decrease in MC and drying rate and long drying
time (75 min) for MVD. In the second drying stage, the
drying rate and MC for PSMVD and MVD exhibited a
slow decrease. The time required to dry stem lettuces slices
using the turntable method in this study was longer than
that of previous studies reported by Cui et al.,[19] who
showed that the total microwave drying time required
was 35 min for 120 g of fresh garlic slices dried to 10% of
moisture (wb) using a magnetron (750 W) working in pulse
mode. The reason for this difference might be due to the
fact that improved experimental apparat uses are able to
regulate the microwave power according to a preset product temperature program, avoiding excessive microwave
power supply to the dried products, resulting in greater
uniformity of the dried products. Another reason for this
phenomenon may be that throughout the drying process

FIG. 5. Drying curves of stem lettuce slices dried using MVD and
PSMVD.

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WANG ET AL.

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no vapor condensation occurred on the chamber wall and

sample dish surface. Although condensed water on the
glass turntable surface increases turntable temperature
and accelerates drying process, it may cause more nonuniform temperature distribution and consume more microwave energy.
Drying Uniformity
Temperature
Temperature curves of the typical rotating turntable and
pulsed spouted microwavevacuum drying tests are shown
in Figs. 6 and 7. These temperature curves were partitioned
roughly into three stages. In the rst stage, microwave
heating was relatively intense due to the high MC of the
sample. As a result, the sample temperature increased rapidly and surpassed the saturated vapor temperature (39 C)
corresponding to the vacuum pressure (7 kPa) in 5 min. The
sample temperature was actually lower than the saturated
vapor temperature because of heat loss due to moisture
evaporation, especially in the pulsed spouted mode. In the
second stage, the sample central=surface temperature continued to increase due to intense microwave heating and
then reached a plateau. In the nal stage, the sample temperature remained stable because the energy due to microwave heating was balanced by cooling caused by
evaporation. A slight temperature reduction occurred
toward the end of drying. It is likely that the sample loss
factor was sharply reduced as a result of low MC left in
the dried samples. A similar temperature prole was
reported by Feng and Tang[16] in apple slices microwave
drying tests in a spouted bed and by Mousa and Farid[8]
for microwavevacuum drying of banana slices at 30 kPa
using a pulsed microwave power. However, they observed
that the temperature increased again in the nal stage
due to the sensible heating of the dried banana. However,

FIG. 6. Temperature curves of stem lettuce slices during MVD at the

central and edge positions of the rotating turntable at 2,450 MHz (color
gure available online).

FIG. 7. Temperature curves of stem lettuce slices at the central and edge
positions of the duct drying chamber during PSMVD at 2,450 MHz (color
gure available online).

a signicant difference in the central temperature of the

samples occurred at three different locations during rotating turntable drying. The center temperature of the samples
at the turntable central location was lower in the rst and
the second stages, and the time to reach a plateau was
less for about 30 min compared to those located at the
two edges. The maximum sample temperature difference
between the central and edge positions of the rotating sample dish was 41 C in the second stage and 5 C in the nal
stage, which corresponds to the maximum standard deviations of sample temperature distribution of 20.8 C and
2.6 C for the average temperature at the central and edge
positions of the rotating sample dish, respectively. In contrast, there was no signicant difference in the surface temperatures of the sample in the pulsed spouted mode at the
central and edge locations throughout drying process. The
maximum standard deviations of surface temperature distribution at the central and edge positions of the drying
duct were less than 2.1 C in three drying stages. Similar
results were reported by Feng and Tang,[16] who found that
after 2.5 min of drying, the maximum center temperature
difference values were 127.5 C in apple pieces dried in a
stationary bed, whereas the maximum temperature variation was 1.4 C in apple pieces dried using microwave
spouted bed drying and reached 4 C at the nal drying
stage. Geedipalli et al.[24]observed that after 35 s of microwave heating, the temperature difference and standard
deviation values were 37.7 and 26.9 C in potato heated
by stationary mode and 25.5 and 9.31 C in potato heated
by rotating turntable mode, respectively. In addition, it
was found that the surface temperature of the pulsed
spouted dried sample was far less than that for rotating
turntable drying. Results from thermal image changes in
the temperature distributions of the samples during
PSMVD and MVD (Fig. 8) indicated the same results.

97

DRYING OF STEM LETTUCE SLICES

TABLE 2
Changes in mean MC, SD and RSD of 12 stem lettuce
slices taken from the pulsed spouted
drying chamber during drying
Drying time (min)

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0
15
30
45
60

FIG. 8. Thermal imagery of stem lettuce slices dried using MVD for
(a) 30 min; (b) 60 min; and (c) 90 min and PSMVD for (d) 30 min; (e)
60 min; and (f) 90 min (color gure available online).

However, the temperature distribution was found to be signicantly altered with the height of the sample dish during
MVD. The best sample temperature uniformity obtained in
the pulsed spouted drying model can be explained by the
improved cavity effects (cylindrical microwave cavity, circular tube drying chamber, and microwave source symmetrical distribution) and changing spatial positions
(three dimensions) of the sample in the drying chamber
to ensure that all sample slices receive equal electromagnetic eld intensity over a period of time.[4,16] Moreover,
the lower sample surface temperature during PSMVD
might be caused by low inlet air temperature (1921 C);
water load self-regulating microwave eld intensity,
especially in the nal drying stage; the use of a cooler
(
10 C); and the high evacuation rate of the water-ring
pump, which resulted in rapid removal of vapor from the
drying samples and avoided condensation of vapor into
water on the chamber wall and sample dish surface.
Moisture
Tables 2 and 3 show the average MC and RSDs of 12
chosen stem lettuce slices dried by pulsed spouted and
the rotating turntable modes. Moisture content standard

MC (%)

SD (%)

RSD (%)

96.42  0.82
91.96  1.27
69.68  1.89
35.56  1.06
6.5 6  0.31

0.24  0.01
0.60  0.03
0.69  0.03
1.80  0.09
0.14  0.01

0.25  0.01
0.65  0.03
0.98  0.04
5.06  0.21
2.15  0.10

deviations or RSDs of the 12 stem lettuce slices during

MVD and PSMVD were found to have the same trend,
in which they increased up to a certain point then decreased
with decreasing MC. The maximum RSD values (5.06% for
PSMVD and 24.25% for MVD) occurred at an MC of
about 30% where the third drying stage began. This
phenomenon can be explained by the fact that free water
content was almost completely removed as the drying process approached the last stage of the falling rate period.
Some stem lettuce slices temperatures were close to the
highest temperature (60 C) producing few changes in their
microstructures, which affected the release of water from
the matrix to the exterior due to the decrease in porosity
or intracellular spaces.[16] As expected, with the pulsed
spouted drying method the measured RSD value of the
MC of the nal dried sample slices was 1.5% less than that
of the rotating turntable drying mode. In addition, it was
observed that the measured MC values of individual stem
lettuce slice during MVD were clearly related to its position
(Fig. 9). The sample slices at the central location of the
rotating sample dish had higher MCs compared to those
at the edges. For example, the difference between the
MCs of sample slices at the center and at the edge was
9.1% after 60 min of drying and 21.9% after 90 min of drying (Table 3). This further conrmed that although the
turntable moves constantly within the square microwave
cavity in MVD, sample slices cannot achieve an average
electromagnetic eld intensity over a period of time. In

TABLE 3
Changes in mean MC, SD and RSD of 12 stem lettuce
slices taken from the rotating turntable during drying
Drying time (min)
0
30
60
90
120

MC (%)
96.42  0.87
90.96  2.34
81.31  2.12
29.99  1.13
6.51  0.32

SD (%)

RSD (%)

0.24  0.01 0.25  0.01

0.87  0.04 0.95  0.04
3.18  0.13 3.91  0.13
7.27  0.32 24.25  1.21
0.53  0.02 8.14  0.35

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FIG. 9. Moisture content variations of 12 stem lettuce slices taken from

the pulsed spouted drying chamber and the rotating turntable after drying
for 30 and 60 min, respectively.

contrast, during PSMVD the difference between stem lettuce slice MCs was far lower compared to that for MVD.
A similar idea for improving uniformity during microwavevacuum drying was also performed by Vennerstrum,[15] who designed a device with mechanical moving
stirrers to splatter product during microwavevacuum drying. Huet al.[9] also used a microwavevacuum drier with
six rotating plates to move edamame during drying. However, these experimental equipment still resulted in product
nonuniformity due to a simple product plane movement
rather than spatial motion.
Color
From Tables 4 and 5, it can be seen that the change
values of the mean color and DE of the samples dried using
PSMVD and MVD rst reached higher absolute values in
the initial stage of drying and then mostly maintained constant values until the nal stage for PSMVD; conversely, a
rapid decrease occurred in the MVD samples in the nal
stage. This may be explained by the fact that the gas existing in the intercellular space of the stem lettuce was
expelled, as well as the changes in the distribution of
different components of chloroplast in the stem lettuce,
caused by microwave heating.[25]

From Tables 4 and 5, it can be observed that the RSD

values of the samples dried using both drying methods
showed the same trend; these values increased in the initial
stage of drying, subsequently decreased with drying time,
and then increased in the nal stage of drying. This may
be related to chlorophyll species. Because chlorophyll-a
contains less positive charges in the porphyrin rings compared tochlorophyll-b, under microwave heating,
chlorophyll-a
decomposed
rst,
followed
by
chlorophyll-b.[26] As expected, the RSDs of the samples
dried by the rotating turntable method were signicantly
higher than those for pulsed spouted drying.
Table 6 shows mean color values of fresh and rehydrated stem lettuce slices dried using various vacuum drying methods. As expected, products dried using PSMVD
exhibited the lowest lightness, L ; redness, a ; yellowness,
b ; and color difference, DE, values, follow by MVD, and
VD had the highest. This might be due to the fact that
the samples dried by the pulsed spouted method retained
more chlorophyll due to the shorter drying time and lower
drying temperature. Hence, after rehydration, pulsed
spouted mode products exhibited lower color variation
compared to those of the rotating turntable mode.
Shrinkage
From Tables 7 and 8, it can be observed that the samples dried by the two drying modes had the same shrinkage
trend, in which there was a rapid decrease in the initial drying stage and slow decrease with drying time. This might be
due to the fact that removal of large amounts of water from
the tissues in the microwave-dried sample during the initial
drying period. In addition, there was no signicant difference in the SR for samples dried by these two drying methods. The measured SR value in the samples dried using
PSMVD was slightly lower than that of the samples dried
using MVD. This result can be seen in Figs. 1b and 1c. This
phenomenon for no signicant difference in the SR of samples dried by PSMVD and MVD can be explained by the
fact that no signicant pufng effects occurred in the two
drying processes due to optimum distribution of the microwave power. The size of the dried samples shrank to almost
same size at the end of drying close to that of the samples

TABLE 4
Changes in mean color (L ,a , b ) and color difference (DE), (SD), and (RSD) of 12 stem lettuce slices taken from the
pulsed spouted drying chamber during drying compared fresh stem lettuce slices
Drying time (min)
15
30
45
60

DL

Da

Db

DE

SD

RSD (%)

9.25  0.45
4.11  0.19
5.01  0.23
6.34  0.31

6.75  0.32

6.10  0.28

6.50  0.31

6.34  0.31

11.79  0.56
9.97  0.48
10.45  0.51
13.35  0.64

16.43  0.81
12.39  0.59
13.29  0.64
16.08  0.76

2.05  0.09
1.28  0.05
0.77  0.03
1.38  0.06

12.47  0.57
10.36  0.49
5.76  0.28
8.59  0.41

99

DRYING OF STEM LETTUCE SLICES

TABLE 5
Changes in mean color (L , a , b ) and color difference (DE), SD and RSD of 12 stem lettuce slices taken from the
rotating turntable during drying compared fresh stem lettuce slices
Drying time (min)
30
60
90
120

DL

Da

Db

DE

SD

RSD (%)

13.76  0.66
13.12  0.63
16.26  0.78
9.21  0.43

7.21  0.35

7.24  0.31

8.23  0.34

2.89  0.14

9.20  0.43
9.42  0.44
9.74  0.43
2.93  0.13

18.06  0.81
17.70  0.85
20.66  0.95
10.08  0.45

2.78  0.11
1.5 8  0.06
2.33  0.09
1.55  0.07

15.37  0.68
8.91  0.04
11.30  0.49
15.34  0.67

TABLE 6
Color (L , a , b ) and color difference (DE) for rehydrated stem lettuce slices dried using different methods compared to
fresh stem lettuce slices
L

a

b

DE

40.55  2.02
53.61  2.26
48.21  2.36
47.29  2.13

10.21  0.49

12.39  0.63

12.80  0.64

11.50  0.56

15.68  0.77
23.77  1.13
23.40  1.16
22.61  1.06

15.52  0.78
11.17  0.55
9.75  0.49

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Drying method
Fresh
VD
MVD
PSMVD

dried by VD method (Figs. 1b1d). However, the collision

between the sample slices and the drying chamber wall during PSMVD might have resulted in a decreased shrinkage
volume compared to MVD.
Results from changes in the RSD values of the sample
SR during PSMVD and MVD (Tables 7 and 8) indicated
that the RSD values of PSMVD samples were always lower
than those of MVD samples in three drying stages. In
addition, the shape of dried stem lettuce slices dried using
TABLE 7
Changes in mean SR, SD, and RSD of 12 stem lettuce
slices taken from the pulsed spouted drying chamber
during drying
Drying time (min)
15
30
45
60

SR (%)
60.11  2.96
20.38  0.95
11.25  0.51
8.46  0.39

SD (%)

RSD (%)

1.68  0.07 2.79  0.12

1.99  0.09 9.77  0.44
1.22  0.05 10.89  0.51
0.81  0.03 9.57  0.41

TABLE 8
Changes in mean SR, SD, and RSD of 12 stem lettuce
slices taken from the rotating turntable during drying
Drying time (min)
30
60
90
120

SR (%)
59.85  2.89
31.44  1.47
9.14  0.44
8.77  0.39

SD (%)

RSD (%)

3.44  0.14 5.74  0.24

5.12  0.21 16.30  0.79
1.73  0.08 18.93  0.91
1.39  0.06 15.83  0.71

PSMVD was nearly circular (Fig. 1d). It was also conrmed that the uniformity in SR of the samples dried using
the pulsed spouted method was far higher than that of samples dried using the rotating turntable due to sample spouting in spatial eld rather than constant movement in the
rotating turntable, as expected.
Microstructure and Apparent Density
Structural properties are important for the characterization of the quality of a dehydrated product. The drying
method signicantly affects the microstructure and apparent density of dried products.[27] The microstructure of the
cross section of the dried stem lettuce slices was examined
to explore the effect of different drying dried methods on
the samples (Fig. 10). From the scanning electron micrographs shown in Fig. 10, it can be observed that the cells
in three vacuum-dried stem lettuce slices were tightly linked
and the cell boundary disappeared compared to those dried
by FD, which had a clear edge and smooth surface, indicating that greater shrinkage occurred during vacuum drying.
Moreover, wrinkles were found on the surface of the samples dried using VD and MVD methods, whereas the cells
of the samples dried using PSMVD were not only tightly
linked but the cell surface was more compact with no obvious wrinkles. This might be because the pulsed inlet air can
cause the samples spatial movement in the drying chamber,
which resulted in collision between the sample slices and
the drying chamber wall during PSMVD. In addition, an
intermittent pressure change (between 7 and 10 kPa) in the
drying chamber may form an alternative pressure difference
inside and outside the drying sample and lead to extrusion
between cells, resulting in a compact microstructure.

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physical damage such as scorching due to excessive heating

caused by higher microwave power and uneven drying. In
this study, no prominent pufng was visually observed.
This may be due to the optimal microwave power level supply and higher pumping vapor rate as well as a the rational
design of the microwavevacuum drying system.

FIG. 10. Scanning electron micrographs of stem lettuce slices dried using different methods: (a) FD; (b) VD; (c) MVD; (d) PSMVD. Magnication 400.

The ARD measurements of the samples dried using

three different vacuum drying methods are shown in
Table 9. The ARD values of stem lettuce slices dried with
VD, MVD, and PSMVD were 1.387, 1.296, and
1.417 kgdm
3, respectively, far higher than that of the fresh
stem lettuce slices (1.027 kgdm
3). As expected, the ARD
value of the sample dried by rotating turntable mode was
the lowest compared to the other two drying methods. This
might be explained by the fact that an outward ux of rapidly escaping vapor caused by microwave energy can help
to prevent the collapse (shrinkage) of tissue structure. Similar results were reported by Huang et al.,[10] who also found
that the bulk density of mixed chips (apple potato) dried
using MVD was higher than that of mixed chips dried
using VD. However, the samples dried by pulsed spouted
mode had the highest ARD value. This might be due to
the formation of a compact microstructure during PSMVD
(Fig. 10d). MVD has been reported to provide higher
porosity products[13,28] due to the pufng effect caused by
the development of greater internal stresses as well as
TABLE 9
ARD, RC, and HF of stem lettuce slices dried using
different drying methods
Drying
method
VD
MVD
PSMVD

ARD
(kg dm
3)

RC (%)

HF (kg)

1.387  0.051 24.365  1.12B 0.848  0.038

1.296  0.043 15.449  0.762 0.657  0.029
1.417  0.052 17.510  0.835 2.166  0.081

Rehydration and Texture

The rehydration characteristics of dried products are
widely used as a quality index and can indicate the physical
and chemical changes in the structure and composition of
plant tissue caused by drying and treatments.[16,23] As seen
in Table 9, the rehydration capacities for stem lettuce slices
dried with VD, MVD, and PSMVD were 24.365, 15.449,
and 17.510%, respectively. This indicates that for all three
methods the dehydrated products did not recover their
structural properties after rehydration. This may be due
to the fact that irreversible physicochemical changes
occurred during drying and the solutes leaking from
damaged cells migrated to the surface to form a crust
and resulted in a relatively closed surface structure.[16,21]
The RC of the samples dried by VD was higher than that
of microwave-dried samples. These results showed that
microwave energy might result in greater changes in the
structure and composition of stem lettuce tissue during
drying compared to conventional vacuum drying. During
microwave drying, especially in the initial drying stage,
apart from the heat required for drying, a signicant
increase in the electrical conductivity of stem lettuce slices
was observed,[29] indicating that there were more mobile
ions formed in the samples being dried due to interactions
of the ions with the electromagnetic eld. It was suggested
that the larger interactions of ions with polymers during
MVD and PSMVD processes stiffened the structure and
restricted polymer hydration and swelling during rehydration compared to VD processes.[23] As expected, the RC
of the samples dried using PSMVD was higher that of
the samples dried using MVD. It is inferred that small
injuries occurred in the structure and composition of stem
lettuce tissue due to lower sample temperature and better
drying uniformity during PSMVD compared to MVD.
After rehydration, the surface hardness of stem lettuce
slices dried using VD, MVD, and PSMVD was 0.848,
0.657, and 2.166 kg (Table 9), respectively. The hardness
force (HF) value of the rehydrated stem lettuce slices dried
with pulsed spouted mode was higher than that of the sample dried by VD and almost four times higher than that of
the sample dried by MVD. This indicates that the stem lettuce slices dried by PSMVD had the highest elastic behavior after rehydration, and the sample dried by MVD
was the softest. Similar results were reported by other
researchers. Cui et al.[19] observed that microwave
vacuum-dried garlic slices were softer than air-dried garlic
slices. Higher RC and rmness of the rehydrated samples

DRYING OF STEM LETTUCE SLICES

dried by PSMVD might be due to the high apparent

relative density created by the interaction of stem lettuce
slices and low sample temperature during drying, as
well as shorter drying time, resulting in less structural
and functional changes compared to the turntable drying
mode.

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CONCLUSIONS
1. The quality of dried stem lettuce slices mainly depends
on the drying uniformity caused by the style of the
movement of the samples in the microwave cavity.
The pulsed spouted mode within a circular tube
vacuum drying chamber resulted in much more uniform
drying within the microwave cavity, as indicated by
more uniform temperature, moisture, color, and shrinkage distribution among sample particles during
PSMVD.
2. PSMVD greatly reduced the drying time by more than
50% compared to conventional MVD.
3. PSMVD resulted in high-quality dried stem lettuce
compared to MVD; after rehydration, products dried
using pulsed spouted mode were of better quality; that
is, they showed the least discoloration, highest elastic
behavior, and higher RC compared to products dried
using the rotating turntable or conventional vacuum
drying.
4. These results show that pulsed spouted mode in a tube
drying chamber substantively improved the microwavevacuum-dried product quality, drying uniformity,
and drying characteristics.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to the 863-HI-TECH Research
and Development Program of China for supporting this
research under contract No. 2011AA100802.
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