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Evaluation of a humidity‐measuring instrument for the determination of water in spray‐dried flavour powders
Author(s) -
Veazey Robert L.,
Bockhorn Brian,
Golding Robert,
Wu Anna
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
flavour and fragrance journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.393
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1099-1026
pISSN - 0882-5734
DOI - 10.1002/ffj.2029
Subject(s) - chemistry , flavour , spray drying , humidity , chromatography , water activity , water content , analytical chemistry (journal) , iodometry , moisture , relative humidity , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , food science , physics , geotechnical engineering , engineering
Spray drying is a common technique for encapsulation of liquid and dry flavours. Control of the water content of spray‐dried flavour powders is critical for maintaining product quality and storage stability. Karl Fischer titration is the method of choice for confirming that the product meets specifications, but a simpler technique would be welcome in the quality control laboratory. We report here the results of an evaluation of a humidity‐measuring instrument, the Computrac® Vapor Pro®, for determining the water content of spray‐dried flavour powders. The instrument heats the sample to drive off moisture, which is measured with a water‐specific sensor. The influence of the oven temperature, sample size, purge time, and endpoint detection method were determined for our samples. The optimized Vapor Pro® measurements show excellent correlation ( r 2 = 0.9923, n = 51) with the reference Karl Fischer method over a range of 1.3% to 7.4% water, with comparable precision. The instrument is thus capable of replacing a Karl Fischer titrator for at‐line monitoring and QC evaluation of water in spray‐dried flavours.