The infrared Analyzer MA35 Sartorius application for moisture determination in dried apples and carrots

Abstract

A comparison of the moisture content measurement results in dried apples with moisture from 2.5% to 28% (wet base) and dried carrots with moisture from 4% to 15% (wet base) obtained by infrared drying rapid method and classical vacuum oven method is presented. It was shown that IRD results depend both on the drying temperature and on the moisture level in the tested samples. We determined optimal drying conditions/ temperature for analyzer application being of 82 °C for dried carrots, and 82 °C or 98 °C for the dried apples with a brittle (and hard) or elastic texture, respectively. The systematic measurement errors that appear for dried samples with different moisture content at the same IRD temperature have been corrected due to reference values data using appropriate graphs and empirical equations.