Sorption characteristics of peeled beans and shells of fermented and dry Trinitario cocoa beans (Theobroma cacao L.)

Abstract

Water sorption data of the peeled bean and shell of Trinitario fermented and dry cocoa beans were determined at 25 °C and adjusted to the isotherm models of Brunauer-Emmet-Teller-(BET) and Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer-(GAB). The difference in the moisture sorption capacity of the shell and peeled beans was clearly established. The monolayer water contents estimated using the BET and GAB models for the peeled bean was 3.53 and 3.60 g water/100 g dry solids, respectively; while for the shell were 8.42 and 8.50 g water/100 g dry solids. The energy constants (C) obtained applying the BET model for the peeled bean and shell were 154.3 and 163.2, respectively. Those estimated from the GAB model (C´) were 21.63 and 83.56, respectively. A larger C´ value for the shell indicates stronger water binding to the active sites in the monolayer as compared with the peeled beans that could indicate the presence of more active polar sites in the former. The value of the K constant in the GAB model was 0.871 and 0.942 for the peeled bean and shell respectively that could suggest a larger water adsorption by proteinaceous material in the peeled bean.

Keywords

• Sorption isotherms
• BET and GAB
• cocoa beans
• cocoa bean shell
• peeled cocoa bean.