The interaction of the water molecules from the environment with foods and other materials can be evaluated using sorption isotherms. Films and biodegradable films are susceptible to changes in their functional characteristics due to adsorbed water. The amount of moisture that biodegradable films can adsorb depends on the temperature, relative humidity of the storage area and chemical composition. Several mathematical models can be used to describe the behavior of sorption isotherms in biodegradable films and some of them have been modified to include the temperature parameter into the equation. In this research, the original and modified BET, GAB, Halsey, Henderson and Dswin models were assessed to determine their suitability describing the behavior of moisture adsorption isotherms of chitosan films at 15, 20, 25 and 30 °C. The modified models of GAB, Dswin and Halsey gave the best fit to the experimental sorption data of the chitosan films, with R 2 values higher than 0.97 demonstrating that those models describe better the sorption isotherms at the temperatures studied.Keywords: chitosan film; moisture adsorption isotherm; GAB model.
Practical Application:The knowledge of the relationship between the equilibrium moisture content, equilibrium relative humidity and temperature is very important in order to describe the effect of water activity on storage of foods. Several mathematical models were used to describe the water sorption behavior of chitosan edible films involving water activity, moisture content and temperature.