Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Whirling bed blanching of potato cubes and its effects

on product quality
a,* b
S. Mukherjee , P.K. Chattopadhyay
a
Department of Post Harvest Process and Food Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering, J.N.K.V.V., Jabalpur 482004, India
b
Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Post Harvest Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India

Received 5 February 2003; received in revised form 16 July 2004; accepted 13 September 2005
Available online 9 November 2005

Abstract

A new technique of modified fluidized bed called whirling bed was adopted for blanching of potato cubes as the large particles
(>4 mm) cannot be effectively fluidized by conventional fluidized bed as well as by spouted bed. Whirling bed blanching was accom-
plished by passing a saturated mixture of hot air and steam through a cylindrical column fitted with a semicylindrical wedge at its base
on distributor plate for partial air restriction. The blanched product quality was compared with that obtained by hot water and steam
blanching in terms of enzyme inactivation, solid loss, moisture content and retention of nutrients like ascorbic acid and reducing sugar.
Rate of loss and diffusivities of ascorbic acid and reducing sugar were also studied. It was observed that whirling bed blanching (at 85 C)
required less time and resulted in higher retention of solids and nutrients as compared to hot water and steam blanching.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Whirling bed; Semicylindrical wedge; Peroxidase activity; Optimum blanching time; Diffusion coefficient; Ascorbic acid; Reducing sugar

1. Introduction the rate of heat transfer. Hot water blanching is by far

the most popular and commercially adopted process as it
Blanching is an essential step before processing of any is the simplest and most economical technique. However,
vegetable as it destroys the enzymes and microorganisms prolonged hot water blanching results in considerable loss
and helps in prevention of quality deterioration particu- of nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, water soluble
larly during drying, freezing, frying or storage. Besides, it minerals, vitamins and sugars (Lee, 1958). Steam blanching
also expels the air entrapped intercellularly inside the tis- results in minimum solid loss, although it proved to be
sues (Lee, 1958). Blanching has also proved to aid reconsti- comparatively uneconomical with no remarkable difference
tution and textural improvement in product (Morris, in blanching time. Moreover, steam blanching carried out
1947). As the potatoes are highly sensitive to enzymatic in thick layers on moving belt often resulted in non-uni-
activities, adequate blanching becomes essential before form blanching effect (Gibert, Baxerres, & Kim, 1980).
processing or preservation (Talburt & Smith, 1975). Uniform blanching can be achieved by IQB method where
Blanching involves a short and quick heat treatment fluidized bed blanching is performed using steam as the
preferably in a wet medium either by steam or hot water medium.
which provides uniform heating and high heat transfer rate Degree of inactivation of peroxidase enzyme has gener-
(Lee, 1958). The time required for blanching depends upon ally been accepted as an index or degree for blanching as it
the time required for inactivation of enzymes and thus on is supposed to be the most heat resistant among the
enzymes (Reed, 1975). Since, complete inactivation of per-
oxidase requires considerably long time, resulting in heavy
*
Corresponding author. loss of nutrients and energy, Singh and Chen (1980)
E-mail address: souti62@rediffmail.com (S. Mukherjee). suggested 90% inactivation of peroxidase as sufficient to

0260-8774/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2005.09.001
 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60 53

Nomenclature

POD peroxidase activity d.b. dry basis

DOD maximum change in optical density within 1 min Cae ascorbic acid content at equilibrium stage
A, K constants of Arrhenius equation (mg/100 g d.b.)
TSL total solid loss (%) L thickness (m)
a, b, c constants of second order polynomial D diffusion coefficient (m2/s)
r coefficient of correlation Cs reducing sugar content at time t (g/100 g d.b.)
t blanching time (s) Cs0 initial reducing sugar content (g/100 g d.b.)
Ca ascorbic acid content at time t (mg/100 g d.b.) Cse reducing sugar content (g/100 g d.b.) at equilib-
Ca0 initial ascorbic acid content (mg/100 g d.b.) rium stage

prevent any deterioration in the product and recommended 1983; Augustine et al., 1979; Boushell & Potter, 1980).
the same as the optimum level for blanching. Garrote, Silva, and Bertone (1988), described the ascorbic
The degree of inactivation of enzymes at different acid loss during hot water blanching as entirely a diffusion
blanching conditions had been studied by numerous controlled phenomenon. The authors determined the
researchers. Adams (submitted for publication) observed apparent diffusion coefficient of ascorbic acid in potato tis-
that 1 min blanching in hot water (97 C) resulted in reduc- sues and reported that it increased from 1.53 · 1010 to
tion of peroxidase activity of sliced green beans along with 21.43 · 10 10 m2/s as the temperature increased from 50
better retention of flavour, colour and quality of the prod- to 100 C. Luna, Garrote, Cordona, and Jeusette (1992)
uct. It has also been observed that the degree of peroxidase developed a mathematical model to predict ascorbic acid
inactivation depends on time and temperature of blanching loss as a function of time, temperature and thickness.
and thickness of materials (Pogorzelski, Rotsztejn, & Haase and Weber (2003) estimated ascorbic acid losses
Berdowski, 1981). Naveh, Mizralie, and Kopelman (1982) during various steps in processing of French fries and
developed a mathematical model for prediction of thermal potato chips and observed that loss of ascorbic acid was
inactivation of peroxidase during blanching of corncob. highest during blanching for French fries and washing
Gibert et al. (1980) observed that thermal inactivation of for potato chips. Nevertheless, the products were reported
peroxidase is greatly influenced by the temperature at val- to retain a substantial amount of ascorbic acid.
ues higher than 75 C. The influence was found indepen- Arroqui, Rumsey, Lopez, and Virseda (2001, 2002)
dent of shape when same size particles were considered. observed higher retention of ascorbic acid when potatoes
Selman (1987) reported a comparative study between hot were blanched in recycled water which also showed lower
water and steam blanching which indicated slightly higher diffusivity than that in distilled water. The average value
degree of peroxidase inactivation in hot water blanching of heat transfer coefficient for hot water blanching of pota-
for carrots. toes was reported to be 2.850 W/m2 K.
The loss of important nutrients during blanching is Reducing sugar causes discolouration in the product due
caused mainly by diffusion or leaching. These nutrients to caramelization while frying, drying and storage (Ross,
are mostly water soluble and as a result hot water blanch- 1948; Schwimmer, Weston, & Potter, 1957). Blanching
ing causes higher loss than that in steam blanching (Kra- helps to minimize reducing sugar (Califano & Calvelo,
mer & Smith, 1947). Selman (1987) observed that about 1983). Several studies have also been conducted on loss
8% of tissues and 3% of total solids were lost after of reducing sugar during blanching of potato (Hoover &
10 min of hot water blanching of carrots at 70 C. Xander, 1963; Schwimmer et al., 1957; Shallenberger,
The effect of blanching on moisture content of vegeta- Smith, & Treadway, 1959; Talburt & Smith, 1975).
bles was studied by Kramer and Smith (1947), who Weaver, Reeve, and Kueneman (1975, Chapter II) and
observed that regardless of temperature, short blanching Duckworth (1979) observed that blanching reduced sugar
period caused slight loss of moisture while prolonged treat- concentration resulting in a better coloured product.
ment resulted in moisture gain. This phenomenon was also Califano and Calvelo (1983) and Abdul-Rezzak (1983)
observed by Davidson, Hughes, and Mitchell (1959) and studied diffusion coefficient of reducing sugar during hot
Selman and Rolfe (1979) during hot water blanching of water blanching of potato and found it to vary from
potato cubes. 3.17 · 1010 to 16.32 · 1010 m2/s for the temperature
Ascorbic acid (vit. C) being an important nutritional range of 45–75 C.
parameter in vegetables including potatoes, its losses dur- Although fluidized bed blanching with steam (IQB)
ing conventional methods of blanching has been exten- proved to be better than the traditional methods, but
sively studied in past (Jenkins, Tressler, & Fitzgerald, the conventional fluidized bed failed to produce the
1938; Lee, 1958; Artz, Pettibone, Augustine, & Swanson, desired effect. This is due to clustering of particles and
54 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60

channelization of gaseous medium which restrict proper The authors observed that as the temperature increased
mixing and affect the rate of heat transfer particularly in the time required for inactivation decreased for which the
case of large particles (Baxerres, Haewsungcharern, & authors also developed a mathematical model. However
Gibert, 1977). no other product quality changes during whirling bed
A new concept of blanching technique termed as ÔWhirl- blanching were studied by them and could neither be found
ing BedÕ blanching was developed by Gibert et al. (1980), in any other published research work.
based on the phenomenon observed by Baxerres et al. The whirling bed is basically a fluidized bed with partial
(1977). This is an improved version of fluidized bed blanch- air restriction at the inlet end, achieved by fixing a semicy-
ing using a mixture of steam and hot air as the medium. lindrical wedge on the distributor plate (Baxerres et al.,
The whirling bed technique has actually been adopted for 1977; Gibert et al., 1980). The upper surface of the wedge
effective fluidization of coarse particles (>4 mm) which can- was kept at an angle of 45 with the distributor plate
not be sufficiently fluidized or agitated even with spouted (Fig. 1a–c). Thus half of the cross sectional area at inlet
bed (Baxerres et al., 1977). Gibert et al. (1980) studied per- end was left open for the passage of air, resulting in higher
oxidase inactivation in peas, cut French Beans, diced car- air velocity at this end. This asymmetric air distribution
rots and potatoes during blanching with this technique forced solids upward by pneumatic transport and down-
with the medium temperature varying from 70 to 90 C. ward by gravity after a certain height as the air velocity
was reduced. This resulted in a whirling motion, which is
actually a constant circulation of particles in the vertical
plane. Salek and Villota (1984) adopted this technique
for wheat drying and observed significantly higher heat
and mass transfer rates as compared to that in conven-
tional fluidized bed which is due to better mixing and circu-
lation of the particles.
In the present study, whirling bed technique has been
adopted for blanching of freshly cut potato cubes for devel-
opment of ready to eat dehydrated puffed product using
HTST whirling bed dehydration (Mukherjee, 1997). Differ-
ent parameters like enzyme inactivation time, total solid
loss, moisture and nutrients content like ascorbic acid
and reducing sugar were compared with that obtained by
traditional methods of blanching, i.e. hot water and steam
blanching.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Experimental setup

The experimental setup for whirling bed blanching using

saturated mixture of steam and hot air consisted of the
steam generation unit, centrifugal air blower, electric heat-
ing unit and the cylindrical blanching chamber (Fig. 2).
The steam generation unit used was a fully automatic
electrode steam boiler with standard working pressure of
7.03 kg/cm2 (150 psi), evaporation rate of 55 kg/h and elec-
tric load of 35 kW. The centrifugal blower had an air flow
rate of 1.8 m3/s with static pressure of 254 mm of water col-
umn driven by a 2 hp, 440 V AC motor and mounted on a
rugged angle iron stand. The electric heating unit was con-
nected to the blower and consisted of a rectangular box of
mild steel of dimension 90 · 45 · 45 cm enclosing six fin
heaters 750 W each, vertically placed in staggered posi-
tions. Baffles were provided inside to ensure better heat
transfer and the box was insulated on all sides by 3 cm
layer of glass wool. A butterfly type valve was provided
at the inlet side of the box to control airflow. The inlet
Fig. 1. (a) Circulation of particles inside the whirling bed. (b), (c) and outlet sides of the box were connected to the blower
Isometric and cross-sectional views of wedge. and blanching column, respectively. The blanching column
 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60 55

Fig. 2. Experimental setup for whirling bed blanching.

comprised of a vertical cylinder 50 cm high and 10 cm in autoclave. The samples were held by trays formed of 10-
diameter as was suggested by Gibert et al. (1980). The col- gauge stainless steel wire mesh. Six such samples were trea-
umn was fabricated of 20 gauge aluminum sheet. Gas dis- ted for the stipulated time intervals selected.
tributor was provided at the base of the cylinder which was Whirling bed blanching was performed by the help of
made up of a stainless steel wire mesh (10 mesh size) fitted saturated mixture of steam and hot air obtained from mini
with a semicylindrical wedge at an angle of 45. The bot- boiler and blower with heating chamber, respectively. The
tom of the cylinder extended to a conical section which air and steam flows were adjusted by the valves to achieve
was connected to both steam and hot air supply line and the resultant saturated mixture with superficial velocity in
thus functioned as the mixing chamber. Gate valves were the proper whirling range (about 3.5–4 m/s). The expanded
provided in both the lines to adjust the steam, hot air mix- bed height or the height to which potato cubes were lifted
ture and the steam condensate was let out through a central was 12–15 cm. The adjustments were so made that mini-
vertical pipe at the bottom of the conical section. mum steam condensate occurred which was drained
through the discharge pipe at the bottom.
2.2. Experimental procedure Due to difficulties in experimentation, simultaneous heat
and mass transfer during different conditions of blanching
A popular variety of potato in India, viz., Kufri Chan- could not be studied as the periodic change in surface and
dramukhi, selected for the study, was procured from local central temperature of sample could not be measured dur-
market. The potatoes were then peeled manually, washed ing blanching. Only the mass transfer studies were carried
and cut to 1 cm cubes in a specially fabricated dicer. The out and reported under present work.
freshly cut potato cubes were then subjected to different Chemical analysis of blanched samples were conducted
blanching conditions and change in quality of the product to assess the qualitative features like peroxidase activity,
was estimated by determination of different fractions of ascorbic acid (vit. C), reducing sugar, etc.
nutrients such as ascorbic acid and reducing sugar along The peroxidase activity (POD) was assessed by spectro-
with the peroxidase activity, moisture content and total sol- photometric method described by Putter and Becker (1974)
ids. Six levels of exposure time, viz., 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 using phosphate buffer (0.1 M, pH 7.0) guaiacol solution
and 180 s were selected for each blanching treatment. (0.249%) and hydrogen peroxide solution (0.042%).
Hot water blanching of potato cubes was carried out in The sample extract was prepared by blending 1 g of
beakers containing about 160 ml of water equilibrated to potato sample with phosphate buffer in 1:2 ratio and fil-
desired temperature level in hot water bath. Twenty grams trate was collected. The spectrophotometer was set to
of sample was placed in each beaker and six such samples 470 nm wavelength. A total volume of 3.18 ml was taken
were introduced at a time. One sample was drawn out at in the cuvette by adding 3 ml of phosphate buffer, 0.05
each time interval. Two temperature levels of 93 and ml of guaiacol solution, 0.1 ml of sample extract and
100 C were selected for the study (as suggested by Van 0.03 ml of H2O2 solution. The optical density was mea-
Arsdel, Copley, & Morgan, 1973). After drawing out the sured periodically and peroxidase activity (POD) was
sample, the final weight was noted and quickly transferred expressed as DOD/min g of sample where DOD stands
into refrigerator at 2 C, where the sample was stored till for maximum change in optical density within 1 min.
analysis. Ascorbic acid (vit. C) content of the samples were deter-
Steam blanching was carried out by subjecting about mined by visual titration method using 2,6-dichlorophenol
20 g of freshly cut potato cubes to open steaming over indophenol (Johnson, 1948), with 3% HPO3, and ascorbic
56 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60

acid standard containing 0.1 mg ascorbic acid in 1 ml of 3% some time. The data obtained in each cases could be fitted
HPO3. The dye solution contained 50 mg 2,6-dichlorophe- to the following form of Arrhenius equation:
nol indophenol in 200 ml water. The ascorbic acid content
was determined and expressed in mg/100 g of sample (dry POD ¼ AeKt ð1Þ
basis). where A, K = constants.
Reducing sugar content of potato samples was deter- Here K signifies the rate constant and indicates rate of
mined by the method as suggested by Lane and Eynon peroxidase in-activation. Considerably good fits were
(AOAC, 1970) following the principle that invert sugar obtained with r P 0.98 for all the blanching conditions
reduces copper in Fehling solution to red insoluble cuprous studied. The temperature dependence of the process could
oxide. The reagents used were Fehling solution A and B, not be studied due to difficulties in obtaining the accurate
methylene blue indicator, 45% neutral lead acetate solu- surface temperature of the sample. The coefficients A and
tion, 22% potassium oxalate solution and standard invert K in Eq. (1) are given in Table 1. As can be observed in
sugar solution. The reducing sugar content was determined Fig. 1 and Table 1, maximum rate of inactivation of perox-
and expressed in g/100 g of sample (dry basis). idase was obtained with whirling bed blanching at 85 C
The moisture content of the samples were determined by followed immediately by atmospheric steam blanching.
hot air oven method by subjecting at 100 ± 2 C for 18 h as The rate of inactivation in case of whirling bed at 80 C
suggested by Ranganna (1995) and solids content of sam- and hot water blanching at 100 C were found comparable
ples by comparing the moisture content and weight loss while the minimum rate was obtained in case of hot water
during blanching. blanching at 93 C. Comparable values were obtained by
Gibert et al. (1980) who reported a residual peroxidase
3. Result and discussion activity of about 28%, 15% and 9% at 80 C and 10.5%,
5.5% and 2.5% at 85 C after 1, 2 and 3 min, respectively,
3.1. Enzyme activity during whirling bed blanching of 9.5 mm potato cubes.
Considering optimum blanching time at 90% inactiva-
Enzyme activity represented by peroxidase activity tion of peroxidase level as described earlier (Singh & Chen,
(POD) in terms of optical density (DOD/min g) was deter- 1980), and estimated by the developed relationship (Table
mined to be 0.83 OD/min g for the fresh potato samples. 1), the minimum time required was found to be in the case
The variation in peroxidase activity with time of blanching of whirling bed blanching (93 s) while maximum time
for different blanching conditions studied is presented in required was observed (165 s) with hot water at 93 C
Fig. 3. Degeneration of peroxidase activity was observed (Table 2). This might be attributed to the fact that better
to be exponential with time as the rate of degeneration contact was achieved between the material and medium
was higher at the initial stages and rapidly decreased with which resulted in higher heat transfer in case of whirling
advancement of process and became almost constant after bed blanching. The phenomenon was also observed by
Gibert et al. (1980). The various product qualities deter-
mined theoretically at optimum blanching level is presented
in Table 2.

3.2. Solid loss

The total solid loss (%) at various intervals under differ-

ent blanching conditions is presented in Fig. 4. The rate of
solid loss in all blanching conditions was initially higher
and decreased with time. The maximum rate of solid loss
was observed in case of hot water blanching at 100 C
and minimum in case of steam blanching. The observed

Table 1
Coefficients of Eq. (1) between peroxidase activity (POD) and time of
blanching (t)
Blanching conditions Coefficients Coefficients of
correlation (r)
A K
Hot water (93 C) 0.8681 0.0142 0.985
Hot water (100 C) 0.8253 0.0178 0.993
Steam (97 C) 0.8560 0.0210 0.987
Fig. 3. Variation in peroxidase activity of potato cubes with times for Whirling bed (80 C) 0.7979 0.0166 0.995
different methods of blanching. Whirling bed (85 C) 1.0136 0.0267 0.991
 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60 57

Table 2
The estimated optimum blanching times and predicted product quality changes at the optimum levels during blanching of potato cubes under different
systems
Quality parameters Initial value Changes during blanching
Hot water Hot water Steam Whirling bed Whirling bed
(93 C) (100 C) (97 C) (80 C) (85 C)
Optimum time (s) 165 129 112 136 93
Moisture content (kg/kg d.b.) 4.834 4.896 4.762 4.750 4.512 4.536
Solid loss (%) 10.14 11.59 2.27 3.70 3.45
Ascorbic acid content (mg/100 g d.b.) 114.65 81.21 85.66 97.79 96.46 100.12
Retention of ascorbic acid (%) 70.83 74.71 85.29 84.13 88.20
Reducing sugar content (g/100 g d.b.) 1.840 0.892 0.982 1.388 1.415 1.502
Retention of reducing sugar (%) 48.48 53.48 75.16 76.90 81.63

in case of diffusion, possibly because of the surface material

removal due to abrasion and small amount of disintegra-
tion. However, the overall trend can be predicted only after
studying longer duration of operation. Considerably higher
value of solid loss in case of hot water blanching indicates
that the solid loss is mainly due to diffusion and leaching.
On the other hand slightly higher values of solid loss during
whirling bed blanching as compared to steam blanching
indicated the loss due to mechanical disintegration during
vigorous movement. The values of solid loss at the opti-
mum blanching levels for the various blanching conditions
are presented in Table 2.

3.3. Moisture content during blanching

The average initial moisture content of potato cubes was

found to be 4.834 kg/kg dry matter (83.03% w.b.). The
average moisture content varied slightly during blanching
(Fig. 5) which decreased initially (upto 90 s) and increased
Fig. 4. Variation in solid loss of potato cube with time for different later during hot water and steam blanching. Similar trend
methods of blanching. was also observed by earlier researchers (Lee, 1958;
Selman, 1987). However, in case of whirling bed blanching,
moisture content decreased throughout the range of period
data on solid loss when fitted was found to be in the form under study. Also the moisture content attained at any
of following second order function of blanching time. instance during whirling bed was lower than hot water or
TSL ð%Þ ¼ a þ bt þ ct2 ð2Þ steam blanching. The reason may be the comparatively
dry blanching medium in case of whirling bed due to the
where TSL = total solid loss (%), t = blanching time in sec- hot air mixed with steam. The moisture content was
onds; a, b, c = constants. observed highest with hot water blanching at 100 C
The values of constants a, b and c are given in Table 3. A (5.01 kg/kg d.b. after 3 min) and lowest with whirling bed
high degree of fit was obtained with correlation coefficient at 85 C (4.324 kg/kg d.b. after 3 min). However, the short
(r) between 0.98 and 0.99. The observed values did not fit range of blanching time under study only pointed towards
well in exponential form (Arrhenius equation) as observed the trend and could not establish any theory. The moisture
contents of potato cubes at optimum blanching levels
Table 3 found graphically are presented in Table 2.
Coefficients of Eq. (2) between total solid loss (%) and time of blanching
Blanching conditions Coefficients Coefficient of 3.4. Ascorbic acid content during blanching
correlation (r)
a b c
Hot water (93 C) 0.3762 0.1008 0.00027 0.992
The ascorbic acid content of fresh potatoes after peeling
Hot water (100 C) 0.4631 0.1153 0.00034 0.986 was 114.65 mg/100 g of dry material, Comparatively lower
Steam (97 C) 0.1181 0.0274 6.93 · 105 0.981 rate of loss of ascorbic acid could be observed (Fig. 6) with
Whirling bed (80 C) 0.1750 0.0404 9.96 · 105 0.994 whirling bed and steam blanching where as hot water
Whirling bed (85 C) 0.2312 0.0444 0.0001 0.983 blanching resulted in significantly greater loss.
58 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60

However, the temperature dependence could not be

studied due to experimental difficulties and thus the analy-
sis was carried out considering the process to be entirely
based on mass transfer instead of simultaneous heat and
mass transfer. Also, since the above equation explained
the process satisfactorily, further attempts were not taken
to study the sample temperature variation during
blanching.
Similar observation as above were also reported by
Garrote, Silva, and Bertone (1986), Garrote et al. (1988)
and Selman (1987) who also established the process to be
diffusion based. Reasonably good fits were obtained by
Eq. (3) (r P 0.98) and the values of rate constants (K)
determined for all blanching conditions are presented in
Table 4. The rate constant (K) indicates that the maximum
rate of loss occurred during hot water blanching (100 C)
and minimum during whirling bed (85 C). Ascorbic acid
contents at the corresponding optimum blanching times
for different blanching conditions under present study
determined from equations (Table 4) along with their per-
Fig. 5. Variation in moisture content of potato cubes with time for centage retentions are given in Table 2. The highest reten-
different methods of blanching.
tion (87.9%) was observed in whirling bed blanching at
85 C and lowest (72.52%) in hot water blanching at
93 C, the reasons for which may be attributed to lesser
blanching time and water solubility of ascorbic acid.
Diffusion coefficients of ascorbic acid during all the
blanching conditions studied were determined following
CrankÕs (1975) basic equation on unidirectional diffusion
in slabs:
( )
Ca  Ce X1
1 2 2 2
2
¼ ð8=p Þ 2
eð2nþ1Þ p Dt=l ð4Þ
C a0  C e n¼0 ð2n þ 1Þ
where Ce is the equilibrium concentration (Ce ! 0, as
t ! 1) and l, the thickness of slab. The equation was final-
ly derived to be of following form considering three dimen-
sional model for diffusion in cube following the method
described by Carslaw and Jaeger (1959) and Geankoplis
(1983).
( )3
Ca X
1
1 2 2 2
2 3
¼ ð8=p Þ 2
e3ð2nþ1Þ p Dt=l ð5Þ
C a0 0 ð2n þ 1Þ
The values of diffusion coefficients were calculated by
developing a program which estimated up to 20 terms of
Fig. 6. Effect of blanching time on ascorbic acid content of potato cubes.
Table 4
Coefficients of Eq. (4) between retention of ascorbic acid (Ca/Ca0) and
blanching time along with diffusion coefficients for various methods of
The ascorbic acid retained during blanching was found blanching
to be an exponential function of time and the data was Blanching conditions Coefficient Coefficient of Diffusion
found to fit satisfactorily in following generalized Arrhe- (rate constant) correlation (r) coefficient
nius equation indicating the process of ascorbic acid loss K, s1 (D), m2/s
to be primarily diffusion based: Hot water (93 C) 0.00209 0.983 5.7516 · 109
Hot water (100 C) 0.00226 0.998 6.0553 · 109
C a =C a0 ¼ ekt ð3Þ
Steam (97 C) 0.00142 0.990 3.6779 · 109
where Ca and Ca0 = ascorbic acid contents at time t and 0 s, Whirling bed (80 C) 0.00127 0.986 3.2896 · 109
Whirling bed (85 C) 0.00135 0.990 3.5023 · 109
respectively, K = constant.
 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60 59

the series. The calculated values of diffusion coefficient for Table 5

all the blanching conditions studied are given in Table 4. Coefficients of Eq. (6) between retention of reducing sugar (Cs/Cs0) and
time of blanching and diffusion coefficients for various methods of
and the values estimated showed reasonably good fit blanching
(R P 0.97).
Blanching conditions Coefficient Coefficient of Diffusion
Higher diffusion coefficient in case of hot water blanch- (rate constant) correlation (r) coefficient
ing and lower in case of whirling bed and steam blanching K, s1 (D), m2/s
was mainly due to the water solubility of ascorbic acid and Hot water (93 C) 0.00439 0.993 13.1616 · 109
availability of water. However ascorbic acid loss due to Hot water (100 C) 0.00485 0.991 14.3085 · 109
oxidation could not be ascertained separately and hence Steam (97 C) 0.00255 0.986 7.1600 · 109
diffusion was considered to be the main factor. Whirling bed (80 C) 0.00193 0.994 5.7989 · 109
Whirling bed (85 C) 0.00218 0.995 6.5520 · 109
3.5. Reducing sugar content during blanching

The reducing sugar content of fresh potato was deter- The values of rate constant K determined for all blanch-
mined to be 1.84 g/100 g (d.b.). The variation in reducing ing conditions under present study along with the esti-
sugar content on the basis of dry matter in potato obtained mated correlation coefficients (r) are presented in Table 5.
during various conditions of blanching (Fig. 7) clearly The equations fitted well (r P 0.98) and maximum and
showed that maximum loss of reducing sugar occurred dur- minimum rate of loss were observed in case of hot water
ing hot water blanching at 100 C (1.00 g/100 g after 3 min) (100 C) and whirling bed blanching, respectively, as shown
while minimum loss occurred during whirling bed blanch- by rate constant (K).
ing at 80 C (0.49 g/100 g after 3 min). The trends observed Reducing sugar contents corresponding to the optimum
in case of hot water and steam blanching were found to be blanching times (Table 2) for the various blanching condi-
in accordance with the earlier reported works (Califano & tions studied were estimated from Eq. (6) (coefficients of
Calvelo, 1983; Selman, 1987) which also indicated that loss which are given in Table 5) and presented in Table 2 along
of reducing sugar during blanching is a diffusion based pro- with the percentage retention. Maximum retention was
cess. However no such earlier reported work was found on observed in case of whirling bed blanching at 85 C
whirling bed blanching. The observed data in case of all the (81.74%) and minimum in case of hot water blanching at
blanching conditions could be explained by the following 93 C (50.27%). The reason for this is possibly the same
form of Arrhenius equation without considering the varia- as that mentioned for ascorbic acid.
tion in the sample temperature: Diffusion coefficients of reducing sugar during the vari-
ous blanching conditions under present study were esti-
C s =C s0 ¼ ekt ð6Þ
mated adopting the same method as in case of ascorbic
where Cs and Cs0 = reducing sugar contents (g/100 g d.b.) acid solving the final from of equation as follows:
at time t and 0 s, respectively, K = rate constant.
X1  3
Cs 2 3 1 2 2 2
¼ ð8=p Þ  e3ð2nþ1Þ p Dt=l ð7Þ
C s0 n¼0
ð2n þ 1Þ

Reasonably good fit was obtained (r P 0.97) and the

values of diffusion coefficients thus estimated are given in
Table 5. Similar trend was observed as that in the case of
ascorbic acid. Maximum diffusion coefficient was observed
in case of hot water blanching and minimum in case of
whirling bed blanching which again was due to water solu-
bility of reducing sugar and comparatively dry blanching
medium in the whirling bed system.

4. Conclusions

The new technique of whirling bed, a modified form of

fluidized bed, was successfully applied and tested for
blanching of potato cubes using saturated mixture of steam
and hot air as medium. As reported earlier, whirling bed
system resulted in proper movement and circulation of par-
ticles and ensured better mixing between particles and med-
ium than could be obtained by either fluidized or spouted
bed. Whirling bed blanching with medium temperature of
Fig. 7. Effect of blanching time on reducing sugar content of potato cubes. 85 C was observed to produce the best results, among
60 S. Mukherjee, P.K. Chattopadhyay / Journal of Food Engineering 78 (2007) 52–60

the blanching conditions studied, in terms of time required Hoover, W. M., & Xander, N. (1963). Influence of specific compositional
for blanching and better retention of solids and nutrients. factors on chipping colour. American Potato Journal, 34, 119.
Jenkins, R. R., Tressler, D. K., & Fitzgerald, G. A. (1938). Vitamin C
content of vegetables. viii Frozen peas. Food Research, 3, 133.
References Johnson, B. C. (1948). Methods of vitamin determination (p. 98). Burgess
Publishing Co.
Abdul-Rezzak, R. K. (1983). Mass and heat diffusion during blanching of Kramer, A., & Smith, M. H. (1947). Effect of duration and temperature of
vegetables. Ph.D. Thesis, Loughborough University, UK. blanch on proximate and mineral composition of certain vegetables.
Adams, J.B. submitted for publication. Thermal Requirements for Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 39(8), 1007–1009.
blanching fruits and vegetables to be frozen. COST 91, Sub-group 3 Lee, F. A. (1958). The blanching process. Advances in Food Research, 8,
meeting, Paris. 63–109.
AOAC (1970). Official methods for analysis (11th ed., p. 936). Washington, Luna, J. A., Garrote, R. L., Cordona, A., & Jeusette, J. P. (1992).
DC: Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Mathematical modelling of diffusion of ascorbic acid during water
Arroqui, C., Rumsey, T. R., Lopez, A., & Virseda, P. (2001). Effect of blanching of surface frozen potato strips. International Journal of Food
different soluble solids in the water on the ascrobic acid losses during Science and Technology, 27, 653.
water blanching of potato tissue. Journal of Food Engineering, 47, Morris, T. N. (1947). Dehydration of food. London: Chapman and Hall
123–126. Ltd.
Arroqui, C., Rumsey, T. R., Lopez, A., & Virseda, P. (2002). Losses by Mukherjee, S. (1997). Studies on HTST whirling bed dehydration
diffusion of ascorbic acid during recycled water blanching of potato technology for the production of RTE puffed potato cubes.
tissue. Journal of Food Engineering, 52, 25–30. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Indian Institute of Technology,
Artz, W. E., Pettibone, C. A., Augustine, J., & Swanson, B. G. (1983). Kharagpur, India.
Vitamin C retention in potato fries blanched in water. Journal of Food Naveh, D., Mizralie, S., & Kopelman, I. J. (1982). Kinetics of peroxidase
Science, 44, 807. deactivation in blanching of corn on the cob. Journal of Agricultural
Augustine, J., Swanson, G., Pametto, S. F., Teitzel, C., Artz, W. E., & and Food Chemistry, 30(5), 967–968.
Huang, C. P. (1979). Changes in nutrients composition of dehydrated Pogorzelski, A. E., Rotsztejn, J., & Berdowski, J. (1981). Przemysl
potato products during commercial processing. Journal of Food Ferment. Owocowo Warszawny, 25(5/6), 38.
Science, 44, 216–219. Putter, J., & Becker, R. (1974). In H. U. BergMeyer (Ed.). Methods of
Baxerres, J. L., Haewsungcharern, A., & Gibert, H. (1977). Whirling bed: enzymatic analysis (Vol. III, pp. 286). Florida, Bassel: Velag Chemie.
A new technique for gas fluidization of large particles. Lebensmittel Ranganna, S. (1995). Handbook of analysis and quality control for fruits
Wissenschaft- und-Technologie, 10, 191–197. and vegetable products (2nd ed.). New Delhi (India): Tata McGraw Hill
Boushell, R., & Potter, N. (1980). Effects of soaking–blanching conditions Publishing Co. Ltd.
on Vitamin C losses and other properties of frozen French fried Reed, G. (1975). Enzymes in food processing. NY: Academic Press.
potatoes. Journal of Food Science, 45, 1207. Ross, A. F. (1948). Deterioration of processed potatoes. Advances in Food
Califano, A. N., & Calvelo, A. (1983). Heat and mass transfer during Research (1). NY: Academic Press Inc.
warm water blanching of potatoes. Journal of Food Science, 48, Salek, J., & Villota, R. (1984). A comparative study of whirling and
220–225. Conventional fluidized beds in their application to dehydration. Heat
Carslaw, H. S., & Jaeger, J. C. (1959). Conduction of heat in solids. Oxford: and mass transfer analysis. Journal of Food Processing & Preservation,
University Press. 2, 73–98.
Crank, J. (1975). The mathematics of diffusion. London: Oxford University Schwimmer, S., Weston, W. J., & Potter, A. L. (1957). Inter relation
Press. among measurements of browning of processed potatoes and sugar
Davidson, C. M., Hughes, J. M., & Mitchell, T. J. (1959). Through components. American Potato Journal, 34, 119.
circulation drying of vegetable materials. vii—Potatoes. Journal of Selman, J. D. (1987). The blanching process. In S. Thorne (Ed.),
Science of Food and Agriculture, 10, 180–185. Developments in food preservation-4. UK: Elsevier Applied Science.
Duckworth, R. B. (1979). Fruits and vegetables. Oxford: Perganon Inst. Selman, J. D., & Rolfe, E. J. (1979). Effect of water blanching of pea seeds.
Library. 1. Fresh weight changes and solute loss. Journal of Food Technology,
Garrote, R. L., Silva, E. R., & Bertone, R. A. (1986). Losses by diffusion 14, 493–496.
of ascorbic acid during water blanching of potato tissues. Lebensmittel Shallenberger, S., Smith, O., & Treadway, R. H. (1959). Role of sugar in
Wissenschaft- und-Technologie, 19, 263. the browning reaction in potato chips. Journal of Agricultural and Food
Garrote, R. L., Silva, E. R., & Bertone, R. A. (1988). Effect of freezing on Chemistry, 7, 274.
diffusion of ascorbic acid during water blanching of potato tissues. Singh, R. P., & Chen, G. (1980). Lethality-Fourier method to predict
Journal of Food Science, 53, 473–474. blanching. In P. Linko, Y. Malakki, J. Olkku, & J. Larinkari (Eds.).
Geankoplis, C. J. (1983). Transport processes and unit operations (2nd ed.). Food process engineering (Vol. 1). Applied Science Publishers.
MA: Allyn Bacon. Talburt, W. F., & Smith, O. (1975). Potato processing. Westport, CT: AVI
Gibert, H., Baxerres, J. L., & Kim, H. (1980). Blanching time in fluidized Publishing Co.
bed. In P. Linko, Y. Malakki, J. Olkku, & J. Larinkari (Eds.). Food Van Arsdel, W. B., Copley, M. J., & Morgan, A. I. (1973). Food
process engineering (Vol. 1). Applied Science Publishers. dehydration (Vols. 1 and 2). AVI Publishing Co. Inc.
Haase, N. U., & Weber, L. (2003). Ascorbic acid losses during processing Weaver, M. L., Reeve, R. M., & Kueneman, R. W. (1975). Potato
of French fries and potato chips. Journal of Food Engineering, 56, processing. In W. F. Talburt & O. Smith (Eds.), Potato processing.
207–209. Westport, CT: AVI Publishing Co.