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Desorption isotherms and mathematical modeling of thin layer drying kinetics of tomato

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Abstract

In recent years, there is an increased demand on the international market of dried fruits and vegetables with significant added value. Due to its important production, consumption and nutrient intake, drying of tomato has become a subject of extended and varied research works. The present work is focused on the drying behavior of thin-layer tomato and its mathematical modeling in order to optimize the drying processes. The moisture desorption isotherms of raw tomato were determined at four temperature levels namely 45, 50, 60 and 65 °C using the static gravimetric method. The experimental data obtained were modeled by five equations and the (GAB) model was found to be the best-describing these isotherms. The drying kinetics were experimentally investigated at 45, 55 and 65 °C and performed at air velocities of 0.5 and 2 m/s. In order to investigate the effect of the exchange surface on drying time, samples were dried into two different shapes: tomato halves and tomato quarters. The impact of various drying parameters was also studied (temperature, air velocity and air humidity). The drying curves showed only the preheating period and the falling drying rate period. In this study, attention was paid to the modeling of experimental thin-layer drying kinetics. The experimental results were fitted with four different models.

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Abbreviations

T:

Air temperature (dry bulb temperature) (°C)

U:

Air velocity (m/s)

RH:

Air relative humidity (%)

t:

Time (min)

s:

Second

X:

Moisture content (kg/kgdb)

MR:

Moisture ratio (–)

DR:

Drying rate ratio (–)

\(- \left( {\frac{\text{dX}}{\text{dt}}} \right)\) :

Drying rate [(kg/kgdb)/s]

\(\overline{{\text{MR}}}\) :

Average moisture ratio (–)

aw :

Water activity (–)

χ2 :

Reduced Chi square

R2 :

Coefficient of determination

N:

Number of experimental data points

n:

Number of parameters in model

Xm, C, K, k:

Constants proper to each sorption isotherm’s model

k, a, b, n:

Constants proper to each drying model

eq:

Equilibrium

0:

Initial

db:

Dry basis

exp:

Experimental

pre:

Predicted

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Energétique et des Transferts Thermique et Massique, Département de Physique, Faculté des sciences de Tunis, Campus Universitaire, 2092, Manar II, Tunis, Tunisia

    Amira Belghith, Soufien Azzouz & Afif ElCafsi

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  1. Amira Belghith
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  2. Soufien Azzouz
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  3. Afif ElCafsi
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Correspondence to Amira Belghith.

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Belghith, A., Azzouz, S. & ElCafsi, A. Desorption isotherms and mathematical modeling of thin layer drying kinetics of tomato. Heat Mass Transfer 52, 407–419 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-015-1560-0

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