Rheological Properties of Tomato Concentrate

Rheological properties of tomato concentrate were evaluated using a wide-gap rotational viscometer (Brookfield Engineering Laboratories: Model LVDV-II) at different temperatures of 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60oC, at concentration of 18, 12.18 and 8.04 % total solids, and at appropriate shear rate(1-100 RPM). The power law model was fitted to the experimental results. The values of flow behaviour index (n) were found less than unity (0.23 to 0.82) at all the temperature and the concentration indicating shear-thinning (pseudoplasticity) behaviour of the concentrate. The correlation between the observed consistency coefficient ranging from 0.09 to 65.87 Pa.sn and the inverse absolute temperature has been exhibited by Arrhenius model. Consistency coefficient increased exponentially with increase in the concentration. Statistical model was used for prediction of the consistency coefficient as a function of temperature and concentration which showed a good agreement (r2=0.99) between experimental and theoretical values. The magnitude of activation energy were found to be in the range of 8.6 to 14.08 kJ/mol.K.