Determination of hydration kinetic of pinto beans: A hyperspectral images application

Hydration is a typical operation applied to legumes before cooking, reducing time and the associated energy cost. To monitor the process, mass balance method is the most used methodology, despite this method is destructive, repetitive, and time-consuming. For that reason. hyperspectral techniques are presented as an alternative for assessing the hydration process since it is a noninvasive method. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the technique of hyperspectral imaging for studying the hydration kinetics of pinto beans. For this purpose, a sample of pinto beans was hydrated in distilled water, determining moisture content during the process and taking hyperspectral images by reflectance mode, in the range 400 to 800 nm until constant mass. The moisture content was modelled using Peleg and a sigmoidal model. Next, the images were pre-treated and the median spectral profile for each bean was obtained. Then, a regression model was fitted, using the wavelength that maximized the coefficient of determination (R²) and minimized the root mean square error (RMSE). The results show that Peleg model fit experimental data with R² in the range of 0.974 to 0.989 while sigmoidal model of 0.997 to 0.999. On other hand, mean spectral profiles at 632 nm and sigmoidal model give the higher metrics 0.997 and 38.3 for R² and RMSE respectively. The results showed that hyperspectral imaging in reflectance mode is a tool capable of measuring the hydration level of beans with higher performance at 632 nm, with a determination coefficient R² higher than 0.98.