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Description

Medicinal plants are photosynthetic organisms that have potential biological activities thanks to their phytochemical compounds. The scientific investigations in the pharmacological profile of the Taraxacum Officinale show that the Taraxacum Officinale extracts or the plant itself are used in making drugs for the following activities: diuretic activity, choleretic activity, anti-inflammatory activity, anti-oxidative activity, anti-carcinogenic activity, anti-allergic activity, anti-hyperglycemic activity, anti-coagulatory, anti-thrombotic activity, and prebiotic activity. However, the potential of these activities inhabits due to several factors such as temperature and humidity. This paper presents the results of several experimental studies on moisture adsorption phenomena using experimental design methodology and the gravimetric static method as keys to study the impact of temperature and humidity on the powder of the Taraxacum Officinale leaves as well as modeling the moisture adsorption at different temperatures. Additionally, empirical models are fitted in order to regress the isotherms data and represent the relationship between the equilibrium moisture content of the product and water activity. The analysis of the interaction between these factors is based on experiments, statistical calculations, and the analysis of variance method which allows verifying the fact that the humidity affects the powder stability more than the temperature or their interactions. The results of the thermodynamic analysis of water adsorption have been determined by the application of the thermodynamics physical principles to the equilibrium data, which are experimentally measured.