Dehydration of Okara with Calcium Chloride

Okara is a by-product of tofu and soybean protein production. Okara contains 80-85% moisture. The dehydration of okara is very difficult with the conventional method. In the present work, okara was dehydrated with a compression instrument (0.49 MPa) using calcium chloride. About 65% water content, on a wet basis, could be obtained with the addition of calcium chloride at levels higher than 0.01 g/g of wet okara. The water content of the dehydrated okara correlated with the pH of the dehydrated solution obtained by dehydration with calcium chloride. With 2% calcium chloride solution, water contents less than 67% could be obtained during four repeated dehydration cycles.