Application of Three Types of Dryers Namely Tunnel, Fluidized Bed, and Fluidized Bed with Microwave for Drying of Celery, Corn, and Sour Cherry: Experiments and Modeling

In this paper, water content from celery, corn, and sour cherry was removed through tunnel, fluidized bed,and fluidized bed with microwave dryers. One day before performing the experiments, the fruits were putin a refrigerator and ground into slices with average dimensions of 5×8×8 mm. For each experiment, 40 gof the samples were inserted in dryers. Moisture content in the samples was determined by weighting the samples using a balance. Experiments were accomplished under the air velocity of 1 to 3 m/s, the temperature of 40 to 60 oC, and the microwave power of 180 to 540 W. Influences of these operatingconditions on the drying yield were presented and discussed. This study evidenced that the fluidized bed with microwave field resulted in the highest drying rate among the applied drying methods. The optimum temperature and air velocity for attaining the maximum drying performance were 60 oC and 1 m/s. In addition, the Exponential and Page’s models were used to fit the experimental data. The results showed that Page’s model had a good agreement with the experimental data

Keywords:

Drying , Tunnel Dryer , Fluidized Bed Dryer , Microwave Dryer , Modeling