Engineering of Some Physico-Chemical Properties of Amorphous Spray-Dried Inulin using a Response-Surface Design

The aim of this study was to investigate theeffect of some process variables on the physico-chemicalproperties of amorphous inulin. In this context, athree-factor second-order response-surface model wasfitted to five variables. The factors were feedconcentration and temperature and inlet air temperaturewhile the five variables were bulk and tapped density,particles size, moisture content and the glass transitiontemperature. In the feed concentration (10-40%, w/w),feed temperature (40-90°C) and inlet air temperature(120-230°C) range tested, statistical analysis revealed thatphysico-chemical properties of inulin were mainlygoverned by inlet air temperature and the feedconcentration to a lesser extent. The feed temperature wassecondary in comparison with the two first factors. Inregards to the production parameters, a qualitativemicroscopic study allowed to visualize the morphologicalproperty changes and to correlate them to the physico-chemical properties.