Analysis of a Model for Water Sorption Phenomena in Foods

Abstract

ABSTRACT The validity of the physical model on which the Hailwood and Horrobin (Trans. Far. Soc. 42B: 84; 1946) isotherm equation was developed was investigated. The results indicate that although the equation may fit sorption data for almost any type of food, it satisfies thermodynamic requirements (i.e. prediction of the temperature dependence) only for proteins and starchy foods. The results also show that plotting enthalpic changes against entropic changes for water sorption satisfies the enthalpy/entropy compensation phenomenon.