An investigation of mass transfer phenomenon during ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration of mango slices and optimization by response surface methodology

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of independent variables, namely, osmotic dehydration temperature (30, 40, 50°C) and concentration (40, 50, 60% w/w), solution to fruit ratio (4:1, 6:1, 8:1 w/w) and time of sonication (0, 10, 20 min) on the mass transfer during ultrasoundassisted osmotic dehydration of mango slices. In addition, optimization of mass transfer parameters was performed to maximize water loss (WL) and weight reduction (WR) as well as to minimize solid gain (SG). Central composite design (CCD) in response surface methodology (RSM) was used for statistical optimization. The results revealed that all the independent variables had a statistically significant effect on the mass transfer parameters. An increase in the osmotic solution concentration resulted in increased WL and WR. Also, the results of ANOVA showed that the fitted model was significant for responses (p