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Influence of Air Temperature and Slice Thickness on the Mass and Moisture Transport Parameters of Thin-layer Drying of Tomato Slices

Aboubakar Compaore, Oumar Bailou, Emmanuel Ouedraogo, Boureima Dianda
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21013/jas.v20.n2.p1
Abstract
In this study, the influence of drying parameters such as air temperature and sample thickness on the mass and moisture transport parameters of hot air drying of tomato slices were investigated at 60-120°C air temperatures for 3-11 mm thickness samples. Using the experimental data in literature, the aim of this study is to determine the influence of air temperature and samples thickness on the moisture and mas transport parameters for tomato slices subjected to drying. Concerning the influence results, the drying coefficient of tomatoes increased with increasing drying temperature whatever the employed sample thickness. At almost all air temperatures, reducing the tomato thickness caused the drying coefficient to increase. The increase in air temperature and decrease in sample thickness decreased the lag factor values. The Biot number values decrease with increase in the air temperature for all sample thickness. When sample thickness increases, the Biot number values increased also whatever drying air temperature. Moisture diffusivity values increased with increased air temperature from 60°C to 120°C and increased tomato sample thickness from 3 to 11 mm. The activation energy values for moisture diffusion and convective mass transfer were decreased with increasing samples thickness for all drying conditions applied.
Keywords
drying coefficient, lag factor, moisture diffusivity and convective mass transfer coefficient
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