Abstract By the analytical model proposed by Dincer and Dost, the mass transfer parameters (moisture transfer coefficient and moisture diffusivity) of shrimp samples were determined. Three sets of drying experiments were performed with three samples of shrimp: without boiling (WB), boiled in salt solution (SB) and boiled in salt solution and subjected to liquid smoking process (SBS). The experiments were performed under controlled conditions of drying air at temperature of 60°C and velocity of 1.5 m/s. Experimental dimensionless moisture content data were used to calculate the drying coefficients and lag factors, which were then incorporated into the analytical model for slab and cylinder shapes. The results showed an adequate fit between the experimental data and the values predicted from the correlation. The boiling is the most recommended pretreatment, because provided a shorter drying time, with high values of moisture transfer coefficient and moisture diffusivity.

Abstract In this study, the spouted bed drying technique was used to obtain powder from shrimp wastes, with high quality for subsequent extraction of astaxanthin using vegetable oil, as alternative to organic solvents. Shrimp waste paste was dried in three inlet air temperatures (70, 80 and 90 °C), and air velocity used in the experiments was 100% over minimum spouting velocity. The minimum spouting, the velocities were 1.23, 1.33 and 1.39 m/s, for temperatures of 90, 100 and 110 °C respectively. The powder obtained in this work shows properties comparable to of the commercial products, indicating that the spouted bed is an alternative technique to obtain powdered products with quality good, at low cost and suitable for subsequent extraction of astaxanthin. The extractions of astaxanthin from shrimp waste were performed using palm olein at three different temperatures (50, 60, and 70 °C). At these conditions, maximum extraction of astaxanthin was 29.814µg/g of dried waste. The extraction kinetics were modeled using a simplified mass transfer kinetic model which showed a good agreement (0.9685<r2<0.9912), between the experimental and calculated data.