| The application of mathematical modeling, which correlates the products' moisture sorption characteristics, the packaging properties, and the storage conditions, to two-component products was used to develop a computer program. The experimental validation of the model was carried out with corn-wheat, corn-oats and oats-wheat mixtures and with individually packaged products. The mixtures were prepared at 1/2, 1/1 and 2/1 ratios and packaged in LDPE and HDPE pouches.; The model estimates the components' moisture contents with reasonable accuracy for systems where the components have similar water activities. The mixtures of components with very different water activity (corn-oats and oats-wheat) presented an initial moisture exchange. During this early stage of the storage, the moisture exchange was more important than the permeability. The determination of the components' moisture content after this moisture exchange was critical to the successfully application of the computer model. The correlation coefficient (>90%), obtained from a regression analysis, shows that model can be used to determine moisture gain of binary mixtures. |
