Caracterização reológica e cinética de secagem de sistemas coloidais formados por água de imersão de ervilha

Abstract

The demand for the use of alternative raw materials to animal proteins, both by allergy sufferers and vegan consumers, has increased considerably. The discovery of immersion water from the cooking of legumes, aquafaba, has stood out significantly for this purpose due to the presence of proteins, which promote functional and technological properties. This study presents an analysis of the rheological properties and drying kinetics of pea aquafaba, with the aim of understanding the viscosity characteristics and drying behavior under different temperatures, providing important information for its use in food and industrial applications. The immersion water (aquafaba) and albumin used for the experiments was commercial water extracted from canned peas and fresh peas, respectively. The rheological experiments revealed that aquafaba exhibits pseudoplastic behavior, that is, its viscosity decreases with increasing shear rate, and thus the viscoelastic properties of the emulsion and foam are influenced. The drying modeling indicated that the process follows first-order kinetics, with a predominance of convective heat and mass transfer. The results of this study contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the properties of aquafaba, which are still little studied in Brazil, both in terms of rheology and drying, and can help in the development of food products, raw materials and industrial processes aimed at using vegetable proteins.