Abstract

The muña leaf is consumed as an infusion, it has pharmacological properties and is used to relieve digestive and respiratory symptoms. Therefore, drying is important for preservation and storage until use or processing. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of drying temperature on kinetics, diffusion coefficient and thermodynamic properties. We worked with muña leaves that were subjected to different pretreatments (bleached at 1% ascorbic acid, immersion in water at 60 ° C and without pre-treatment) dried at three temperatures (40, 50 and 60 ° C). The effective diffusion coefficient, activation energy, was determined and the drying process was described using eight mathematical models to represent the drying curve. The Logarithmic model was selected as the one with the best fit to represent the drying kinetics of the muña. Activation energy values ​​were similar between treatments. The increase in temperature promotes: decrease in enthalpy and entropy; increase in Gibbs free energy and effective diffusion coefficient. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the water content by drying to maintain the quality of the muña leaves.