Preparation of a solid product with high water content and water retention properties

Abstract

This work presents the development of a solid product with a high water content (99.08%) and water retention properties. Water was chosen as a potential carrier of a volatile active substance and water retaining properties of material were studied at a temperatures and relative air humidity values with the support of the theory of drying. The study first confirmed the role of Gibbs’ phase rule in the research of solid-gas phase equilibrium, and second presented drying kinetics developed from Fick’s second law and expressed with the first term of the Fourier equation. Solutions of equations for phase equilibrium and mass transfer enabled the calculation of Luikov’s parameters, which are important for equilibrium relations and for the diffusivity of water in a solid for mass transfer prediction. The obtained thermodynamic and kinetic parameters enabled product characterisation that may be important for the prediction of retention times.

Keywords

• water in organic phase emulsion
• phase equilibrium
• mass transfer
• luikov’s parameters
• theory of drying