Modeling the moisture sorption isotherms of two‐phase solid olive oil by‐product

The moisture sorption isotherms of two‐phase solid olive oil mill by‐product (SOB) were measured at different temperatures (15–50 °C) in order to thoroughly know the hygroscopic properties of this material. SOB is like a slurry with a high water content (60–70%). It is obtained in the olive oil two‐phase extraction process and is currently used as the raw material for obtaining pomace oil by extraction with hexane; prior to the extraction, drying of the SOB is required. Other uses of SOB are composting, animal feeding and solid fuel; in such cases, the previous drying of the material is also required. Sorption moisture isotherms for the two‐phase SOB were obtained by a static method. Eight models were fitted to the experimental data: BET, GAB, Halsey, Smith, Henderson, Oswin, Ferro‐Fontan and Peleg. The GAB equation was the best option to describe the water sorption behavior of SOB within a very wide range of water activities (0–0.90). A generalized GAB model, in which temperature is taken into account, was obtained by multivariable fitting of the complete set of the experimental isotherms.