Drying of apple slices (var. Golab) and effect on moisture diffusivity and activation energy

作者：Meisami asl E^*; Rafiee S; Keyhani A; Tabatabaeefar A

来源：Plant Omics, 2010, 3(3): 97-102.

• Apple
• activation energy
• moisture diffusivity
• thin layer
• Page model

Drying is one of the primary methods of food preservation. Determining coefficients used in drying models is essential to predict the drying behaviour. The present study was conducted to compute effective moisture diffusivity and activation energy of samples of apple slices. The thin-layer drying experiments were carried out under five air temperatures of 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 degrees C, three air velocities of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 m/s and three apple slice thicknesses of 2, 4 and 6 mm and constant air humidity of 21%. Results indicated that drying took place in the falling rate period. Moisture transfer from apple slices was described by applying the Fick's diffusion model. The effective diffusivity values for all conditions changed from 1.50x10(-8) to 1.71x10(-7)m/s. An Arrhenius relation with an activation energy value of 22664.1 to 30919.0 J/mol and the diffusivity constant value of 1.16x10(-4) to 6.34x10(-3) m/s were obtained which shows the effect of drying air temperature, air velocity and slice thickness on the diffusivity.

• 出版日期2010-5