Influence of Sample Size on Heat and mass Transport during Drying

Drying is one of the most important processes in the food industry, as well as one of the most frequently studied topics in food engineering. Food Engineering development is related to the knowledge advances of different areas of Chemical Engineering and other engineering fields. Optimizing this process will result in lower production costs and increased product quality. In this work , a numerical investigation on the influence of sample size on heat and mass transport under natural convection air-drying is presented. A 2-D The finite element model is used to simulate heat and mass transfer during convection drying of rectangular sample. The model non-linear equations are solved numerically by the commercial FEMLAB. The sample area was assumed constant. The results showed that decreasing in width of sample or/and increasing in its lenght make shorten the drying time and lead to increasing the temperature and moisture gradient at the begining of the drying process. A comparison between the theoretical predictions and a set of experimental results reported in the literature has shown a considerably high agreement.

Keywords:

2-D , Simulation , Heat and mass Transfer , Drying , Finite Element