Dehydration

Name:
Dehydration
Detailed information:
(1) Removal of 95% or more of the water from a material, usually a foodstuff, by exposure to high temperature by various means. Its primary purpose is to reduce the volume of the product, increase its shelf life, and lower transportation costs. Special equipment for dehydration includes tunnel dryers, vacuum (shelf) dryers, drum dryers, etc., in which the bulk product is exposed to a hot-air environment. Another method is spray drying, in which a liquid product is ejected from a nozzle into hot air; dried milk and egg white are prepared in this way. The term dehydration is not applied to loss of water by evaporation or sun drying. See Drying.(2) Removal of one or more molecules of H₂O from a chemical compound, e.g., of ethanol to ethylene.