K. JafariNaeimi - Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, I. R. Iran
R. Ahmadi - Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, I. R. Iran
M. DavariShamsabadi - Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, I. R. Iran

ABSTRACT- Drying has been used for the preservation of fruits since ancient times. Dried apricot reduces the damages, weight and volume losses, packaging space, storage and handling costs. In this paper, the effects of hot air dryer on an Iranian apricot cultivar ”Noori” have been investigated. The experiment was conducted at three temperatures (۳۰, ۴۰ and ۵۰oC), three fruit thicknesses (۵, ۱۰ and ۱۵ mm) and two pre-treatments (sulphur dioxide and water soluble sodium meta-bisulphite (Na۲S۲O۵)). Based on the analysis of variance, the effects of temperature, thickness, pre-treatment and their interactions on drying time were significant (P<۱%). It was revealed that water soluble  reduced drying time more than sulphur dioxide. The data was fitted to eight different mathematical models. Page model was determined as the best one to explain thin layer drying of apricots by comparing the coefficient of correlation determination(R), chi-square ( ) and root mean square error (RMSE) between the observed and expected moisture ratios.

Keywords:, Mathematical modelling, drying kinetics, Page model