Abstract

A pulsed electric field (PEF: 2.0 kV/cm) was applied before vacuum microwave drying (VMD: 120 W, 120/260 W, and 260 W at 40 kPa) on Chilean abalone mollusks. PEF and VMD effects on process features (drying kinetics, modeling, and sustainability) and product quality (texture, structure, and digestibility) were measured. The PEF application increased moisture diffusivity by up to 27% in the combined PEF+VMD process. According to the statistical analysis applied to all mathematical models, the Logarithmic model was best fitted to VMD experimental values. In terms of energy consumption, applying PEF+VMD reduced energy consumption by up to 33% of the 120W and 120/260W non-PEF samples. The best values for the rehydration index were obtained with the 120/260W (45%) and PEF+120/260W (61%) treatments. In addition, these samples had the best texture parameters. The PEF+120/260W treatment showed the highest degree of hydrolysis (11%) for the calculated protein efficiency. Finally, using PEF as a pretreatment in a VMD process can be cost-effective for scale replication due to its time efficiency and product quality to Chilean abalone samples.