Abstract:
Advantages of infrared fluid
bed drying include high heat and mass
transfer coefficients, short process time,
high quality and low energy consumption.
Since heat and mass transfer and quality
changes during drying of terebinth fruit with
infrared fluid bed method is not described in
the literature. Goals of this research were
study the effects of different infrared drying
conditions on the drying kinetic and
physical parameters of terebinth fruit. To
predict moisture during drying process, five
mathematical models were used.
Experiments were conducted at different
levels of hot air velocity (0.93, 1.76 and 2.6
m/s), temperature (40, 55, and 70°C) and
infrared radiation power (500, 1000 and
1500 W). Results showed that Demir et al.
model had the best performance for
predicting of moisture ratio. Effective
moisture diffusivity for terebinth samples
(6.2×10-11 to 7.3×10-10 m2/s) was achieved.
Activation energy of the samples (44.4 to
59.13 kJ/mol) was computed. Maximum
rupture force (118.4 N) was calculated at air
velocity of 2.6 m/s, infrared power of 1500
W and air temperature of 70°C. The results
proved that in addition to short process time,
monitoring of terebinth fruit characteristics
such as mechanical properties during drying
process can be achieved.
