Food and Bioprocess Technology

, Volume 7, Issue 12, pp 3591–3601 | Cite as

Dielectric Properties of Red Pepper Powder Related to Radiofrequency and Microwave Drying

Original Paper
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Abstract

To provide useful information for drying red pepper with radiofrequency or microwave energy and designing dielectric drying equipment, dielectric properties (dielectric constant ε′ and loss factor ε ″) of red pepper powder with moisture contents ranging from 10.4 to 30.8 % wet basis were measured at different temperatures (from 25 to 85 °C) over a frequency range of 20–4,500 MHz with a vector network analyzer and an open-ended coaxial-line probe. The results showed that both ε′ and ε ″ of red pepper powder were dependent on electromagnetic wave frequency, moisture content, and temperature. The value of ε′ decreased with increases in frequency over the tested range. The ε ″ decreased with increasing frequency when the frequency was below 4,000 MHz, and increased slightly when it was above 4,000 MHz. Both ε′ and ε ″ increased as either moisture content or temperature increased, and the increases were a little greater at high moisture and temperature than those at low moisture and temperature. The moisture- and temperature-dependent permittivities of red pepper powder at several frequencies of interest could be described by quadratic models. The results of variance analysis exhibited that both moisture content and temperature had significant influence (p<0.01) on permittivities of red pepper powder. The power penetration decreased as frequency, moisture content, and temperature increased. Large penetration depth at radiofrequencies below 100 MHz could be used to dry red peppers in a large scale, while microwave energy could be used for drying red peppers in a small scale.

Keywords

Red pepper Dielectric drying Dielectric constant Dielectric loss factor Mathematical modeling 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from National Natural Science Foundation of China (31171720) .

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.College of Mechanical and Electronic EngineeringNorthwest A&F UniversityYanglingChina

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