processes Article Kinetic Studies and Moisture Diffusivity During Cocoa Bean Roasting Leydy Ariana Domínguez-Pérez 1, Ignacio Concepción-Brindis 1, Laura Mercedes Lagunes-Gálvez 1 , Juan Barajas-Fernández 2, Facundo Joaquín Márquez-Rocha 3 and Pedro García-Alamilla 1,* 1 División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias (DACA), Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), Carret. Villahermosa-Teapa Km 25 Ra. La Huasteca. Centro, Tabasco. C.P. 86280, Mexico;
[email protected] (L.A.D.-P.);
[email protected] (I.C.-B.);
[email protected] (L.M.L.-G.) 2 División Académica de Ingeniería y Arquitectura (DAIA), Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), Carret. Cunduacán-Jalpa de Méndez Km 1. Col. La Esmeralda. Cunduacán, Tabasco. C.P. 86690, Mexico;
[email protected] 3 Centro Regional para la Producción más Limpia, Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Tabasco Business Center, Edificio FINTAB, Carretera Reforma-Dos Bocas, Km. 17+920, Ranch. Pechucalco, 2da. sección, Cunduacán, Tabasco, C.P. 86691, Mexico;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 17 September 2019; Accepted: 18 October 2019; Published: 21 October 2019 Abstract: Cocoa bean roasting allows for reactions to occur between the characteristic aroma and taste precursors that are involved in the sensory perception of chocolate and cocoa by-products. This work evaluates the moisture kinetics of cocoa beans during the roasting process by applying empirical and semi-empirical exponential models. Four roasting temperatures (100, 140, 180, and 220 ◦C) were used in a cylindrically designed toaster. Three reaction kinetics were tested (pseudo zero order, pseudo first order, and second order), along with 10 exponential models (Newton, Page, Henderson and Pabis, Logarithmic, Two-Term, Midilli, Verma, Diffusion Approximation, Silva, and Peleg).