Kinetic study of leaching behavior of electrolytic elements from leafy vegetables

This study aims to compare leaching of ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium under variable conditions in different leafy vegetables and suggest suitable leaching parameters. Four leafy vegetables namely, Spinach, Fenugreek, Slender Amaranth and Red calico Amaranth were selected for these studies. Three leaching conditions were carefully chosen at two different temperatures with stirring and one condition without stirring. The kinetic studies on leaching rates were carried out for the same to provide evidence for extent of leaching and time required for equilibrium leaching. It was found that by the end of 120 minutes almost 75 – 95% ions were leached out and the process followed pseudo second order mechanism. The thermodynamic studies were also carried out, that indicated that leaching was a spontaneous process with positive energy of activation under all conditions.