The kinetics of water absorption by chickpeas (Koçbaşı, Kuşbaşı), lentils (green Pul) and beans (Battal, Dermason, Horoz, Şeker) grown in Turkey were studied by a gravimetric method during soaking at 15, 25 and 40ºC to determine moisture diffusivity of these selected legumes. The water diffusion coefficients of the legumes were in the range 9.71x10-11 - 5.98x10-10 m2/s for the chickpeas, 3.53x10-10 - 1.33x10-9 m2/s for the lentils and 4.35x10-11 - 3.79x10-9 m2/s for the beans. An Arrhenius-type equation described the strong temperature effect on the diffusion coefficient with activation energies of 48.6-49.8 kJ/g-mol for chickpeas, 39.7 kJ/g-mol for lentils, and 33.6-50.8 kJ/g-mol for beans. It was shown that a satisfactory prediction of water absorption during soaking of the selected legumes was possible by using the analytical solutions to Fick's law of diffusion.

The kinetics of water absorption by chickpeas (Koçbaşı, Kuşbaşı), lentils (green Pul) and beans (Battal, Dermason, Horoz, Şeker) grown in Turkey were studied by a gravimetric method during soaking at 15, 25 and 40ºC to determine moisture diffusivity of these selected legumes. The water diffusion coefficients of the legumes were in the range 9.71x10-11 - 5.98x10-10 m2/s for the chickpeas, 3.53x10-10 - 1.33x10-9 m2/s for the lentils and 4.35x10-11 - 3.79x10-9 m2/s for the beans. An Arrhenius-type equation described the strong temperature effect on the diffusion coefficient with activation energies of 48.6-49.8 kJ/g-mol for chickpeas, 39.7 kJ/g-mol for lentils, and 33.6-50.8 kJ/g-mol for beans. It was shown that a satisfactory prediction of water absorption during soaking of the selected legumes was possible by using the analytical solutions to Fick's law of diffusion.