DETERMINA O DO EQUILíBRIO HIGROSCóPICO E DO CALOR ISOSTéRICO DA POLPA E DA CASCA DO ABACAXI

In order to analyze the dynamics of sorption and energy needed to process of the pineapple(Ananas comosus), this study objectived determine experimentally the sorption isotherms and the energyinvolved in of the process of dehydrating the pulp and the peel of the pineapple, from different controlledconditions of temperature and relative humidity, and assess, among various models described in theliterature, which best represents the behavior of sorption of pineapple and the peel of the pineapple andits latent heat of vaporization of water in the products analyzed. As a result, it was verified that the modelthat best fitted the empirical data of sorption of pineapple was the Modified GAB model, with coeficientof determination of the 99.2%, while for the peel of the pineapple was the Modified Halsey model, withcoeficient of determination of the 98.6%. Already, for the isosteric heat, the empirical equation was foundto be suitable for pulp and peel pineapple, whose energy needs varied, respectively, of 2386.11 a 2913.93 kJkg-1, and 2411.665 a 2909.325 kJ kg-1.