Modeling Mass Transfer During Salting of Catfish Sheets

Abstract

Application of the Peleg and Zugarramurdi and Lupín models in the pile salting of catfish sheets was studied to determine the kinetics of the process. Groups of sheets were salted using different mixtures of NaCl, KCl, CaCl₂, and MgCl₂. Initial and final mass, moisture, and salt contents were measured for 6 days. Linear and nonlinear regressions were used to fit a database to Peleg and Zugarramurdi and Lupín models, respectively. The models as fitted explained 99.3–99.8% of the moisture content variation kinetics, and 99.2–99.8% of the salt content variation kinetics.

Keywords:

• pile salting
• catfish sheet
• kinetics
• modeling