In this study, a thin - layer drying of pear slices as a function of drying
conditions were examined. The experimental data set of thin - layer drying
kinetics at five drying air temperatures 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70?C, and three
drying air velocities 1, 1.5 and 2 m s-1 were obtained on the experimental
setup, designed to imitate industrial convective dryer. Five well known thin
- layer drying models from scientific literature were used to approximate
the experimental data in terms of moisture ratio. In order to find which
model gives the best results, numerical experiments were made. For each
model and data set, the statistical performance index, (?), and chi-squared,
(?2), value were calculated and models were ranked afterwards. The performed
statistical analysis shows that the model of Midilli gives the best
statistical results. Because the effect of drying air temperature and drying
air velocity on the empirical parameters was not included in the base
Midilli model, in this study the generalized form of this model was
developed. With this model, the drying kinetic data of pear slices can be
approximated with high accuracy. The effective moisture diffusivity was
determined by using Fick?s second laws. The obtained values of the effective
moisture diffusivity, (Deff), during drying ranged between 6.49 x 10-9 and
3.29 x 10-8 m2 s-1, while the values of activation energy (E0) varied
between 28.15 to 30.51 kJ mol-1.
Modelling drying kinetic of oyster mushroom dehydration – The optimization of drying conditions for dehydratation of Pleurotus species
