Most food industries perceive the significance of microscopy-based approaches to optimize existing drying processes to improve and control characteristics in dried food products. In this work, pretreated potato cylinders of 50 mm length and varying diameters of 8, 10 and 13 mm were dried in a mixed-mode solar dryer. Effect of pretreatment on surface properties of dried samples was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Microstructural analysis showed more porous and firm structure of pretreated samples. AFM images revealed the closeness of pretreated samples with raw sample. Lower values of skewness (0.084 ± 0.15; −0.840 ± 0.28) and kurtosis (2.243 ± 0.81; 3.550 ± 0.99) in case of cross-sectional and surface analysis of pretreated dried samples indicated smooth and undamaged surface. The degree of crystallinity and relative crystallinity of pretreated samples are overestimated in the range of 39.96–117.82% and 38.88–117.85% respectively.

Industrial relevance

This research is focused on studying the effect of pretreatment on surface and microstructural properties of solar dried potato cylinders. These properties will help in understanding the quality changes during drying and hence will be essential for enabling better process control and improvement in the product appearance by optimizing the pretreatment and drying parameters. Therefore, it is important for food industry to expedite practical applications of solar drying in food process engineering.

中文翻译：

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焦亚硫酸钠预处理对太阳能干燥马铃薯圆筒的显微照片，表面粗糙度和X射线衍射分析的影响

大多数食品工业认识到基于显微镜的方法对优化现有干燥工艺以改善和控制干燥食品的特性的重要性。在这项工作中，将50毫米长，直径分别为8、10和13毫米的预处理马铃薯圆筒在混合模式的太阳能干燥机中进行干燥。通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM），原子力显微镜（AFM）和X射线衍射（XRD）分析研究了预处理对干燥样品表面性能的影响。显微组织分析表明，预处理后的样品具有更多的孔隙和牢固的结构。AFM图像显示预处理样品与原始样品之间的亲密性。偏度（0.084±0.15; -0.840±0.28）和峰度（2.243±0.81; 3.550±0）的较低值。99）如果对经过预处理的干燥样品进行横截面和表面分析，则表明表面光滑且未损坏。预处理样品的结晶度和相对结晶度分别高估了39.96–117.82％和38.88–117.85％。

行业相关性

这项研究的重点是研究预处理对太阳能干燥马铃薯圆柱体表面和微观结构特性的影响。这些特性将有助于理解干燥过程中的质量变化，因此对于通过优化预处理和干燥参数实现更好的过程控制和改善产品外观至关重要。因此，对于食品工业而言重要的是加快太阳能干燥在食品加工工程中的实际应用。