LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890

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LWT - Food Science and Technology

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Evolution of porosity, shrinkage and density of pasta fortified with pea protein
concentrate during drying
Samuel Mercier, Sébastien Villeneuve*, Martin Mondor, Louis-Philippe Des Marchais
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Food Research and Development Centre, 3600 Casavant Blvd West, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada J2S 8E3

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of this work was to study the impact of fortification with commercial pea protein concentrate on
Received 7 June 2010 the evolution of the moisture content, density, shrinkage and porosity of pasta made from durum wheat
Received in revised form semolina during drying. Pasta were processed from durum wheat semolina enriched with pea protein
16 November 2010
concentrate at 0, 5, 10 and 15 g 100-g-dry matter
1 and dried at low (40  C) and high (80  C) temper-
Accepted 23 November 2010
ature. Moisture content, density, shrinkage and porosity and effective moisture diffusivity coefficients
were linked through theoretical development. It enabled to study the behaviour of the properties as
Keywords:
a function of drying time. The results showed that drying temperature has a greater effect on the studied
Pasta drying
Porosity
properties than enrichment with pea protein concentrate. Drying at 80  C increased radial and total
Shrinkage shrinkage compared to drying at 40  C, but no differences were observed for longitudinal shrinkage.
Effective moisture diffusivity Pasta dried at 80  C were denser and overall less porous, but had greater internal porosity.
Pea protein The volumetric percentage of water lost during drying replaced by air within the pasta matrix was lower
Air pycnometer at 80  C. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the gluten network of pasta dried at 80  C
seems denser and more continuous. Effective moisture diffusivity coefficients of pasta dried at 80  C
were higher at 5 and 10 g 100-g-dry matter
1 enrichment level compared to the control.
Crown Copyright Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction carried out to assess the impact of fortification on pasta making

Over the last few years, many studies have been made on the
production of protein-fortified pasta. Fortification compensates
pasta deficiency in lysine and threonine, two essential amino
acids (Abdel-Aal & Hucl, 2002; Kies & Fox, 1970). In most of these
studies, pasta were produced from durum wheat semolina sup-
plemented with protein-enriched flour (Bahnassey, Khan, &
Harrold, 1986; Gallegos-Infante et al., 2010; Petitot, Boyer, Minier,
& Micard, 2010; Sabanis, Makri, & Doxastakis, 2006; Shogren,
Hareland, & Wu, 2006; Torres, Frias, Granito, Guerra, & Vidal-
Valverde, 2007; Wood, 2009; Zhao, Manthey, Chang, Hou, &
Yuan, 2005), concentrate (Nielsen, Sumner, & Whalley, 1980;
Yanez-Farias, Bernal-Aguilar, Ramirez-Rodriguez, & Barron-Hoyos,
1999) or isolate (Alireza Sadeghi & Bhagya, 2008). It was
observed that fortification affects pasta quality, namely in terms of
texture (Nielsen et al., 1980), color (Gallegos-Infante et al., 2010),
cooking quality (Zhao et al., 2005) and organoleptic properties
(Alireza Sadeghi & Bhagya, 2008). However, only a few works were
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 450 768 3335; fax: þ1 450 773 8461.
E-mail address: sebastien.villeneuve@agr.gc.ca (S. Villeneuve).
process. For example, Wood (2009) and Petitot et al. (2010)
reported that high fortification level with chickpea, split pea and
faba bean flour results in higher aggregation of particles, which
renders the extrusion step difficult.
Drying plays the most critical role in pasta production. It
deeply impacts the final characteristics of the product, mainly in
terms of appearance and cooking behaviour (Owens, 2001). During
drying, simultaneous heat and mass transfer occurs, causing the
material to dehydrate. Those transport phenomena are highly
linked to material properties like moisture content, density,
shrinkage and porosity (Luikov, 1975; Martynenko, 2008). Thus,
real-time evaluation of these properties is crucial to the design and
optimisation of pasta drying.
Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the impact of
fortification with commercial pea protein concentrate (CPPC) on
the evolution of the moisture content, density, shrinkage and
porosity of pasta made from durum wheat semolina during drying.
CPPC was selected for this study because legumes and cereals
complement each other amino acids deficiencies (Sánchez-Lozano
& Martínez-Llorens, 2009). To achieve that, a system of equations
linking the four aforementioned parameters was derived from
Martynenko (2008).

0023-6438/$ e see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2010.11.032
884 S. Mercier et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890

Nomenclature s dry weight ratio of semolina to pea protein

concentrate, (e)
Deff pasta effective moisture diffusivity, m2 s
1
m mass, kg Subscripts
L pasta length, m 0 initial conditions
M moisture content, kg H20 kg dry matter
1 1 first
P pressure, Pa 2 second
r radius coordinate, m app apparent
R pasta radius, m E equilibrium
T temperature,  C ext external
t drying time, s int internal
V volume, m3 L longitudinal
p particle
Greek symbols PPC pea protein concentrate
bn Bessel function characteristic roots of the first kind, (e) R radial
e porosity, m3 void m
3 total (e) sem semolina
h volumetric fraction of water lost replaced by air, (e) s dry solid
r density, kg m
3 T total
c shrinkage, Dm3 m
3 initial or Dm m
1initial (e) w water

2. Theoretical considerations the pasta is not totally replaced by air. The air present in the
pasta matrix at the beginning of the drying process can also be
2.1. Moisture content as a function of drying time reduced or disappear, leading to a collapse phenomenon (Fig. 1).
Mathematically, these phenomena can be described introducing
Model proposed by Andrieu and Stamatopoulos (1986) and a dimensionless parameter defined as follow:
Villeneuve and Gélinas (2007) was used. The following assump-
tions were made: (1) as previous authors and for the needs of this Vapp0
Vapp
h ¼ 1
ðfor t > 0Þ (4)
study, pasta drying is described by a Fick’s type law, although it may Vw0
Vw
not be fully accurate due to non-Fickian behaviour near glass
This parameter ultimately represents the volumetric fraction of
transition (2) pasta is modeled as an infinite cylinder; (3) mass
water lost during drying that has been replaced by air within
transfer only occurs in the radial direction; (4) heat transfer is faster
the pasta matrix and gives an indication of the occurring
than mass transfer, thus allowing to consider drying as isothermal;
phenomena (value >1 indicates swelling; z 1 indicates the
(5) change in pasta radius during the process does not have
absence of shrinkage; z 0 indicates total shrinkage;<0 indicates
a significant impact on mass transfer. Considering these assump-
collapse).
tions, Fick’s law can be used to express pasta water content during
drying as follows:
!
vM v2 M 1 vM
¼ Deff þ (1)
vt vr 2 r vr

The following boundary conditions were used:

at t ¼ 0, M ¼ M0 for 0 < r < R,
at t > 0, M ¼ ME for r ¼ R,
at t > 0, vM=vt ¼ 0 for r ¼ 0
The solution of Eq. (1) under these boundary conditions is:
!
M
ME XN
4 b2n Deff t
¼ exp
(2)
M0
ME 2
n ¼ 1 bn
R2

This solution enables to describe pasta moisture content as a func-

tion of drying time when knowing pasta effective moisture diffu-
sivity, dimensions and equilibrium moisture content.

2.2. Shrinkage as a function of drying time

Volumetric shrinkage (cT) is here defined as the ratio of

apparent volume lost to initial apparent volume:

Vapp0
Vapp
cT ¼ (3)
Vapp0

As described by Khalloufi, Almeida-Rivera, and Bongers (2009), Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the shrinkage and collapse phenomena during
shrinkage occurs during drying when the water removed from pasta drying process.
 S. Mercier et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890 885

Pasta apparent density and water density are described as Therefore, an equation describing pasta apparent density
follow: evolution during drying (Eq. (10)) and Fick’s law solution (Eq. (2))
mS ð1 þ MÞ can be substituted in the latter equation to obtain a relationship
rapp ¼ (5) linking pasta porosity to drying time, effective moisture diffusivity,
Vapp
equilibrium moisture content, dimensions and the fraction of water
lost replaced by air:
ms M 
rw ¼ (6) rw 1
Vw eT ðtÞ ¼ 1

DMðh
1Þð1
aÞ þ yð1 þ M0 Þ ð1 þ 1=sÞrsem
With the use of the last four equations, shrinkage can be linked to  
1 DMa þ ME
the dimensionless parameter h: þ þ (13)
ð1 þ sÞrPPC rw
ð1
hÞðM0
MÞ
cT ðtÞ ¼ (7)
rw =rapp0 ð1 þ M0 Þ
3. Materials and methods
Thus, using Fick’s law solution (Eq. (2)), shrinkage can be described
as a function of drying time when knowing pasta dimensions, 3.1. Raw materials
equilibrium moisture content, effective moisture diffusivity and
the fraction of water lost replaced by air (h): Roller-milled durum wheat semolina was purchased from
Horizon Milling (Montreal, QC, Canada). Commercial pea protein
ð1
hÞ concentrate (PropulseÒ) was purchased from Nutri-pea Limited
cT ðtÞ ¼ DMð1
aÞ (8)
yð1 þ M0 Þ (Portage La Prairie, MB, Canada).
PN
where aðtÞ ¼ 4=bn expð
bn Deff t=R2 Þ,
2 2
n¼1
, 3.2. Pasta processing
y ¼ r =r
w app0

DM ¼ M0
ME To process concentrate-free pasta, durum wheat semolina

2.3. Density as a function of drying time
An equation linking pasta apparent density, shrinkage and
moisture content can be derived from the definition of apparent
density (Eq. (5)) and volumetric shrinkage (Eq. (3)):
rapp0 ð1 þ MÞ
rapp ¼
ð1 þ M0 Þð1
cT Þ
Thus, the substitution of the equation relating shrinkage to drying
time (Eq. (8)) leads to a relation describing pasta apparent density
evolution during drying as a function of time, effective moisture
diffusivity, equilibrium moisture content, pasta dimensions and
the fraction of water lost replaced by air:
rw ð1 þ DMa þ ME Þ
rapp ðtÞ ¼
DMðh
1Þð1
aÞ þ yð1 þ M0 Þ
2.4. Porosity as a function of drying time
Porosity represents the ratio of void spaces to total apparent
volume. Assuming that the volume of dry solids, which represents
the sum of the volumes occupied by semolina (Vsem ) and pea
protein concentrate (VPPC ) in the case fortified pasta, water and air
are additive, porosity can be defined as follows:
was hydrated to 49.3 g-water 100-g-dry matter
1 in a stand
mixer (Model Professional 600, Kitchenaid, St. Joseph, MI, USA)
under constant agitation with a flat beater for 15 min. The
mixture was transferred to a pasta extruder (Dymasters Pasta
Dies & Extruder, Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada) equipped with
a metallic pre-die (1.9 mm-sieve openings) and a Teflon die
(2.5 mm). During extrusion, vacuum pressure was applied (about
78 kPa) to prevent air bubble formation and temperature was
(9) controlled at 50  C with water circulating in a double-jacket
chamber. Drying was performed in an environmental chamber
(Model RTH-16P-2, Burnsco Technologies Inc., Kanata, ON,
Canada) with fresh pasta deposited on metallic rods. Air velocity
inside the chamber was between 1 and 2 m s
1. Two 20 h
drying profiles were used; one at constant low temperature (LT;
40  C) and one at constant high temperature (HT; 80  C).
Relative humidity was kept at 65% for both drying profiles.
Fortified pasta were processed like concentrate-free pasta,
(10)
excepted that: (1) durum wheat semolina was substituted with
CPPC at a 5, 10 or 15 g 100-g-dry matter
1; (2) on the basis of
previous tests, an hydration level of 50.9 g-water 100-g-dry
matter
1 was chosen; (3) a 5 min mixing step under continuous
stirring in the kitchen size mixer was performed before hydra-
tion. Two batches of 1.5 kg of pasta were processed for each
level of fortification and drying temperature.
3.3. Fresh and dried pasta properties measurements

Vsem þ VPPC þ Vw Initial and final moisture content of pasta was determined
eT ¼ 1
(11)
Vapp according to AOAC Method 925.09 (AOAC International, 1995) by
drying samples overnight in a vacuum oven at 92  C. Total protein
An equation linking porosity, density and moisture content can be
content was determined using an FP-428 LECO apparatus (LECO
derived from a mass balance, the definition of water and pasta
corp., Saint Joseph, MI). The instrument was calibrated with EDTA
apparent density (Eq. (5) and (6)), the densities of dry semolina and
as nitrogen standard. Factors N  5.7 and N  6.25 were used for
pea protein concentrate and the relative proportion of semolina to
semolina and for CPPC, respectively.
pea protein concentrate:
Fresh and dried pasta dimensions (length and diameter) were
  
rapp 1 1 M measured using a digital caliper (Model 62379-531, Control Co.
eT ¼ 1
þ þ (12) Friendswood, TX, USA). Measurements were conducted on 10
1þM ð1 þ 1=sÞrsem ð1 þ sÞrPPC rw
strands of pasta. Apparent density was calculated from the
where s represents the relative proportion of semolina to protein measured dimensions and the mass of pasta under the hypothesis
concentrate (s ¼ msem =mPPC ). of cylindrically shaped pasta.
886 S. Mercier et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890
The volumetric shrinkage (cT ) that occurred between the
initial and final stage of pasta drying was calculated from pasta
initial and final apparent density and moisture content using Eq.
(9) since it was not possible to measure length variation of
pasta during the drying process. Shrinkage was further decom-
posed in radial (cR ) and longitudinal (cL ) shrinkage using Eq. (3)
and the volume of cylindrically shaped pasta (Vapp ¼ pR2 L) as
follows:
cT ¼ 1
ð1
cR Þ2 ð1
cL Þ
where cR ¼ ðR0
RÞ=R0 , cL ¼ ðL0
LÞ=L0 .
Radial shrinkage was calculated from the measured fresh and
dried pasta diameters while longitudinal shrinkage was then
derived from Eq. (14).
Fresh and dried pasta total porosity was calculated from the
measured moisture content and apparent density using Eq. (12).
Porosity was classified in two types, external and internal, repre-
senting respectively the fraction of opened and closed pores to
total apparent volume. External porosity was determined using an
air pycnometer built on the principle suggested by Sereno, Silva,
and Mayor (2007). The pycnometer consists of a reference
chamber (V1 ¼ 212.8 cm3), a sample chamber (V2 ¼ 205.1 cm3),
a pressure transducer (UniTransÒ UT-10, Wika Alexander Wie-
gand GmbH & Co, Kligenberg, Germany) and three valves (Fig. 2).
The first valve is linked to compressed air (about 6.9  105 Pa). The
pressure transducer is used to measure the pressure (P1) when
chamber 1 is pressurised (valves 1, 2 and 3 closed; chamber 2 at
atmospheric pressure) and after valve 2 has been opened (P2;
valves 1 and 3 kept closed). Each test was carried out with
approximately 30 g of sample. The sample particle volume,
defined as the volume occupied by closed pores, water and dried
solids, was then derived from a calibration curve of the ratio P1/P2
as a function of the sample volume. Calibration curves were ach-
ieved with standard 1.27 cm bearings from at least ten points
(R2 > 0.99). Pasta particle density (rP ) was taken as the ratio of
mass of pasta to particle volume. External porosity was calculated
as follows:
rapp
eext ¼ 1

rP
Internal porosity was taken as the difference between total and
external porosity.
Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the air pycnometer.
Table 1
Properties of fresh pasta enriched with 0 (Control), 5, 10 and 15 g 100-g-dry matter
1 CPPC and extruded at 50  C and under depressurised conditions (about 78 kPa)a.
Parameters Control
Moisture (g-water 100-g-dry matter
1) 45.7  1.4
Diameter (mm) 2.64  0.02
rapp (g cm-3) 1.31  0.01
a
Procedures to determine properties of fresh pasta have been performed in duplicate for each drying temperature (40  C and 80  C).
3.4. Evolution of pasta moisture, density, shrinkage and porosity as
a function of drying time
During drying, pasta weight was measured online every minute
with a 5-kg load cell (National Scale Technology, Huntville, AL, USA)
connected to a data acquisition system (Model TI 500E, Transcell
Technology, Buffalo Grove, IL, USA). From these data, effective
moisture diffusivity was determined according to Villeneuve and
Gélinas (2007) with R considered as pasta initial radius.
(14) The fraction of water lost during drying replaced by air (h)
was calculated from fresh and dried pasta apparent density and
moisture content using Eq. (7). Thus, h was assumed constant
during drying (i.e. not a function of time). This assumption is valid
when the relationship between shrinkage and moisture content is
linear (Eq. (7)), which has been observed in the drying of potatoes
(Wang & Brennan, 1995), carrot (Krokida & Maroulis, 1997) and
Japanese noodles (Inazu, Iwasaki, & Furuta, 2005). A linear rela-
tionship between shrinkage and moisture content is expected to
be obtained when apparent density variations are small (Eq. (9)).
In the present study, the variation of apparent density between
fresh and dried pasta was between 0% and 7% of fresh pasta value.
3.5. Scanning electron microscopy
Scanning electron microscopy was performed using an LEO
surface scanning electron microscope (Model S-3000 N, Hitachi
High Technologies America, Inc., Pleasanton, CA, USA) under dep-
ressurised condition (10
4 Pa). A 20 kV potential was applied
during visualisation. Samples to be analysed were mounted on
aluminium stubs using double-sided adhesive tapes. They were
coated with gold using a sputter coater (Model 108, Cressington
Scientific Instruments Ltd, Watford, UK) until a thickness of about
15 nm was obtained, as measured by a thickness monitor (Model
10MTM, Cressington Scientific Instruments Ltd, Watford, UK).
3.6. Statistical analysis
Analysis of variance was performed a priori on each param-
eter using SAS software (version 8.2, SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC,
(15)
USA). Multiple comparison procedures (Least Significant Differ-
ence, P ¼ 0.05) were performed a posteriori to compare param-
eters whose variance was significantly different. Comparisons
were achieved between the two drying temperatures. They have
also been achieved between treatments applied to each drying
temperature.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Protein content
Protein content of semolina and CPPC were respectively
16.0  0.2 g 100-g-dry matter
1 and 84.8  0.4 g 100-g-dry
matter
1. Densities were 1.51  0.01 g cm
3 for semolina and
1.32  0.01 g cm
3 for CPPC. Pasta with protein content of
17.0  0.1 g 100-g-dry matter
1, 20.1  0.2 g 100-g-dry matter
1
and 23.3  0.2 g 100-g-dry matter
1 were obtained with 5, 10 and
5 10 15 Mean
47.6  0.6 47.3  0.8 47.4  1.6 47.0  1.3
2.69  0.02 2.68  0.04 2.70  0.03 2.68  0.03
1.29  0.01 1.30  0.02 1.26  0.02 1.29  0.02
 S. Mercier et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890 887

15 g 100-g-dry matter
1 CPPC enrichment. These results are similar 10.00

to Alireza Sadeghi and Bhagya (2008), Shogren et al. (2006), Yanez-
Farias et al. (1999) and Nielsen et al. (1980), using respectively 80°C
8.00
mustard protein isolate, chickpea protein concentrate, pea protein

Deff (cm2 min-1 x10-7)

concentrate and soy flour.
6.00

4.2. Fresh pasta properties 40°C

4.00
Fresh pasta properties are presented in Table 1. No differences
were observed between properties of fortified and non-fortified
pasta. Both were very dense and had negligible porosity 2.00
(0.00  0.02). Extruded pasta diameter was 2.68  0.02 mm,
which corresponds to an expansion of about 7% when compared 0.00
to the 2.5 mm-sieve openings of the Teflon die. Consequently, 0 5 10 15
fresh pasta diameter should not be considered equal to the die Enrichment level (g 100-g-dry matter -1)
extruder diameter when performing high precision engineering
Fig. 3. Effective moisture diffusivity coefficient at 40  C (:) and 80  C (-) as a func-
calculations.
tion of CPPC enrichment level.

4.3. Dried pasta properties

Fortification had little impact on the properties of dried pasta
(Table 2). No significant differences were observed for density,
radius and porosity as a function of enrichment level. However,
differences between drying temperature were observed. Drying at
HT induced the production of denser (P < 0.05) and less porous
(P < 0.01) pasta, which would be the results of higher shrinkage
occurring during the process. HT drying has also cause increase in
shrinkage in the case of melt (Fan, Mitchell, & Blanshard, 1996) and
celery (Karathanos, Anglea, & Karel, 1993). It might be because at
HT glass transition would occur at lower moisture content. Since
shrinkage may be less important when in the glassy state (Rahman,
2001), this would results in higher volume lost at HT. Longitudinal
shrinkage was not negligible compared to radial shrinkage, since
it contributed to roughly 30% of total shrinkage.
Pasta dried at HT were on average 6% less porous than pasta
dried at LT. This may explain why HT drying has been associated
to the production of pasta with higher breaking strength (Lucisano,
Ambrogina Pagani, Mariotti, & Patrizia Locatelli, 2008; Manthey &
Schorno, 2002). Indeed, in the case of fresh apples (Vincent,
1989), potatoes (Scanlon, Day, & Povey, 1998) and extruded starch
(Bhatnagar & Hanna, 1997), mechanical properties like stiffness and
breaking strength have been showed to be highly correlated to
porosity. Moreover, Waananen and Okos (1996) indicated that
porosity has a positive effect on pasta effective moisture diffusivity.
However, internal porosity could have a bigger impact on pasta
effective moisture diffusivity than external porosity because, while
external porosity cause an increase in available surface area, pasta
external resistance to dehydration has been showed to be negli-
gible (Andrieu & Stamatopoulos, 1986; Litchfield & Okos, 1992). In
the present study, pasta dried at HT had higher internal porosity
(P < 0.05), even though they were overall less porous.
Lower equilibrium moisture content were obtained at HT
(P < 0.01), as previously observed (Villeneuve & Gélinas, 2007).
However, these differences did not compensate the increase in
shrinkage that occurred at HT, since a smaller fraction of water lost
was replaced by air (h) at HT (P < 0.05). It follows that h is
dependant on drying conditions. The fraction of water lost replaced
by air was between 0 and 1, indicating the presence of shrinkage,
but the absence of collapse.
Effective moisture diffusivities of pasta are presented in Fig. 3.
At LT, no differences were observed between fortified and non-
fortified pasta. At 80  C, higher effective moisture diffusivity coef-
ficients were obtained for pasta enriched with CPPC at a 5 or 10 g
100-g-dry matter
1 level, but not at 15 g 100-g-dry matter
1
(P < 0.05). It is possible that the addition of proteins has a dual
effect on pasta drying kinetic. It could induce a trend to increase
pasta porosity, which has been observed to positively affect Deff
(Waananen & Okos, 1996; Xiong, Narsimhan, & Okos, 1991). At the
same time, it could increase pasta water binding capacity, thus

Table 2
Properties of pasta enriched with 0 (Control), 5, 10 and 15 g 100-g-dry matter
1 CPPC dried at 40  C or 80  Ca.

Parameters 40  C 80  C

Control 5 10 15 Mean Control 5 10 15 Mean

Diameter (mm) 2.44  0.01 2.41  0.02 2.49  0.01 2.55  0.01 2.47  0.01 2.34  0.01 2.37  0.03 2.42  0.04 2.41  0.00 2.39  0.02
rapp (g cm
3) 1.27  0.01 1.29  0.01 1.23  0.02 1.19  0.07 1.25  0.05 1.37  0.01 1.34  0.02 1.31  0.06 1.34  0.01 1.34  0.03
ME (g-water 100-g-dry matter
1) 12.9  1.2 13.4  0.8 12.9  0.1 12.7  0.8 13.0  0.7 9.7  1.8 10.1  1.5 10.3  0.5 10.1  2.3 10.0  1.6
h(-) 0.28  0.03 0.20  0.01 0.46  0.07 0.34  0.20 0.29  0.10 0.15  0.01 0.17  0.03 0.25  0.04 0.09  0.10 0.16  0.07

Shrinkage
Radial (-) 0.08  0.00 0.10  0.02 0.08  0.01 0.06  0.01 0.08  0.02 0.11  0.01 0.12  0.01 0.09  0.03 0.11  0.00 0.11  0.02
Longitudinal (-) 0.05  0.02 0.05  0.03 0.05  0.05 0.08  0.06 0.06  0.04 0.09  0.01 0.07  0.01 0.09  0.03 0.10  0.01 0.09  0.02
Volumetric (-) 0.21  0.01 0.24  0.01 0.17  0.02 0.19  0.04 0.21  0.03 0.28  0.00 0.28  0.01 0.25  0.02 0.28  0.01 0.27  0.02

Porosity
Internal (-) 0.00  0.00 0.01  0.01 0.01  0.00 0.02  0.01 0.01  0.01 0.03  0.01 0.03  0.00 0.02  0.00 0.00  0.01 0.02  0.01
External (-) 0.11  0.00 0.09  0.01 0.13  0.01 0.15  0.06 0.12  0.04 0.03  0.00 0.04  0.02 0.07  0.04 0.06  0.02 0.05  0.03
Total (-) 0.11  0.01 0.10  0.01 0.14  0.01 0.17  0.06 0.13  0.04 0.06  0.01 0.07  0.02 0.09  0.05 0.06  0.01 0.07  0.02
a
Procedures to determine properties of dried pasta have been performed in duplicate.
888 S. Mercier et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890

negatively affecting dehydration. Indeed, water retention capacity
has been reported to be higher in dough composed of durum
wheat flour or semolina enriched in proteins (Roccia, Ribotta,
Pérez, & Leon, 2009). As previously observed, high drying tem-
perature causes increase (P < 0.01) in effective moisture diffusivity
(Andrieu & Stamatopoulos, 1986; Villeneuve & Gélinas, 2007).
4.4. Scanning electron microscopy
Scanning electron microscopy analyses were performed to
visualise the impact of fortification and drying temperature on
pasta microstructure. Images showed that pasta microstructure is
composed of starch embedded in a protein network (Fig. 4). This

Fig. 4. Scanning electron microscopy (500X) of pasta processed under two drying temperatures and different levels of pea protein enrichment. A) 40  C and 0 g 100-g-dry matter
1;
B) 40  C and 5 g 100-g-dry matter
1; C) 40  C and 10 g 100-g-dry matter
1; D) 40  C and 15 g 100-g-dry matter
1; E) 80  C and 0 g 100-g-dry matter
1; F) 80  C and 5 g 100-g-dry
matter
1; G) 80  C and 10 g 100-g-dry matter
1; H) 80  C and 15 g 100-g-dry matter
1.
 S. Mercier et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890 889

A 50
B 1.50
1.45
Moisture (g 100-g-dry matter -1)

40 1.40
80°C
1.35

Density (g cm - 3)
30 1.30
1.25
40°C
20 1.20
40°C
1.15
10 1.10
80°C 1.05

0 1.00
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Time (min) Time (min)

0.40 0.20
C D
0.35

0.30 80°C 0.15

40°C
Shrinkage (-)

0.25
Porosity (-)
0.20 0.10
40°C
0.15

0.10 0.05
80°C
0.05

0.00 0.00
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Time (min) Time (min)

Fig. 5. Experimental moisture (A), density (B), shrinkage (C) and porosity (D) as a function of time during drying at 40  C (:) and 80  C (-). Continuous lines correspond to the data
calculated from Equations 1e13 for the average Deff measured at 40  C and 80  C.

network was visually similar whatever the protein content, but
starch dilution could be perceived at 10 and 15 g 100-g-dry
matter
1 substitution level. However, at HT, the protein network
seemed more dense and continuous, similarly to what was
observed by Zweifel, Handschin, Escher, and Conde-Petit (2003).
HT may cause protein denaturation and promote cross-linking
of the two gluten proteins, glutenin and gliadin (Schofield,
Bottomley, Timms, & Booth, 1983; Zweifel et al., 2003). Thus, HT
drying could induce the formation of a more rigid and compact
network.
4.5. Dynamic variation of properties during drying
Equations 1e13 have been used to describe the expected
behaviour of moisture content, density, shrinkage and porosity
during drying. Results are presented in Fig. 5. The data represent
the average of the four enrichment level, since no differences
between them were observed for these properties. These results
indicate that the evolution of the properties during drying is
roughly similar to a first order system without time delay. The
variation of the properties will be faster at the beginning of
drying, when the speed of dehydration is higher. However, the
speed by which change the properties will not necessarily be the
same for all the properties. For instance, the time required to ach-
ieve 63.2% of the difference between the initial and equilibrium
state of pasta drying (i.e. one time constant of first order system) is
faster for moisture content (118  3 and 69  5 min, respectively, at
40 and 80  C) and shrinkage (118  3 and 69  5 min, respect-
ively, at 40 and 80  C) than density (133  5 and 82  6 min,
respectively, at 40 and 80  C) and porosity (135  3 and 84  6 min,
respectively, at 40 and 80  C). The time constant of moisture and
shrinkage is the same because, under the present assumptions,
they are linear functions of each other. The speed by which change
the properties is faster at HT, because of the higher effective
moisture diffusivity. In addition, sensitivity of the model to Deff
value was checked using average Deff for each temperature in the
phenomenological equations to fit the aforementioned values
(Fig. 5Be5D). Results indicated a good fit.
A practical application of the system of equations would be the
prediction of the structural properties of pasta (namely density,
dimensions and porosity) at the drying time required to bring
a product at a desired moisture content under given drying
conditions. This application only requires the knowledge of some
initial conditions (density, radius and moisture content) and three
parameters: (1) effective moisture diffusivity, which controls the
speed by which the structural properties will change; (2) equilib-
rium moisture content, which impacts the amount of water that
will have been evaporated when equilibrium is reached; (3) h,
which controls the magnitude of the variation in shrinkage, density
and porosity in relation to amount of water lost. While Deff can
be estimated with developed semi-empirical relationships (Waan-
anen & Okos, 1996) and equilibrium moisture content can be
related to drying temperature and relative humidity using Oswin’s
equation (Ponsart, Vasseur, Frias, Duquenoy, & Méot, 2003), no
890 S. Mercier et al. / LWT - Food Science and Technology 44 (2011) 883e890
relationship between the volumetric percentage of water lost
replaced by air and drying condition have been developed for pasta
so far.
5. Conclusion
Moisture content, density, shrinkage and porosity and effective
moisture diffusivity coefficients were linked through theoretical
development. It enabled to study the behaviour of the properties as
a function of drying time. Drying temperature has a greater impact
on fresh and dried pasta properties compared to enrichment with
pea protein concentrate. Drying at high temperature induced the
production of denser pasta, which might be the result of higher
radial and total shrinkage. Pasta dried at low temperature were
overall more porous, but had less internal porosity. Effective
moisture diffusivity coefficients of pasta dried at 80  C were higher
for 5 and 10 g 100-g-dry matter
1 pea protein concentrate en-
richment level compared to the control. The variation of the studied
properties is faster at the beginning of drying, when the speed of
dehydration is higher. The effect of these properties on pasta
cooking quality is presently under investigation.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Diane Montpetit for her partic-
ipation in scanning electron microscopy analysis, Réjean Gatineau
for his contribution in the design and construction of the air
pycnometer and, François Lamarche and Guylaine Lessard for their
help with figures preparation.
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