Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Inuence of the drying conditions on the drying constants

and moisture diusivity during the thin-layer drying of gs
Stamatios J. Babalis *, Vassilios G. Belessiotis
Solar & Energy Systems Laboratory, NCSR Demokritos, 15310 Aghia Paraskevi Attikis, Greece
Received 1 October 2003; accepted 4 February 2004

Abstract
In order to establish the inuence of the drying air characteristics on the drying performance of gs (cus carica) several drying
tests have been carried out in a laboratory scale tunnel-dryer. The dryer using ambient heated air and working in closed loop was
equipped with a continuous monitoring system. The investigation of the drying characteristics has been conducted in the temperature range of 5585
C and the airow in the range of 0.53 m/s. An Arrhenius-type equation was used to interpret the inuence
of the drying air parameters on the eective diusivity, calculated with the method of slopes in terms of energy of activation, and this
was found to be insensitive to air velocity values higher than 2 m/s. The eect of the air temperature and velocity on the drying
constants was determined by tting the experimental data using regression analysis techniques. The inuence of the air temperature
on the drying kinetics of gs has been shown to follow the Arrhenius relationship. The strong inuence of air temperature and
velocity at the early stages of drying was evident, as well as the relative insensitivity of the drying process at the later stages. A value
beyond which the increase of the airow velocity has no signicant eect on the drying rate was encountered and was determined to
be 2 m/s, indicating the predominance of the internal mass transfer resistance over the external one. The investigation revealed that
the drying kinetics is most signicantly aected by temperature, with the airow velocity having a limited inuence on the drying
process. Correlations expressing the drying constants and eective moisture diusivity dependence on the drying-air parameters are
reported.
 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Thin-layer drying; Drying curves; Drying of gs; Diusivity

1. Introduction
Drying of agricultural products is a widely spread
method oering physico-chemical stabilization by taking away part of the moisture content, producing different products with new qualitative properties and
dierent nutritional and economical value. Considerable
percentages of those agricultural crops are dried articially in heated air mechanical drying systems (Hansen,
Keener, & ElSohly, 1993; Morey, Cloud, & Hansen,
1981; Pathak, Agrawal, & Singh, 1991).
Simulation models of these drying processes are used
for designing new or improving existing drying systems
or even for the control of the drying process. All
parameters (transfer coecients, drying constants, etc.)
used by the simulation models are directly related to the
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +30-210-6503810/3821; fax: +30-2106544592.

E-mail address: sollab@ipta.demokritos.gr (S.J. Babalis).
0260-8774/$ - see front matter  2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2004.02.005

drying conditions, i.e. temperature and velocity of the

drying medium inside the mechanical dryer (Karathanos
& Belessiotis, 1997; Xia & Sun, 2002). Furthermore the
drying conditions, as directly related to the drying time,
are aecting the energy demands.
As a consequence particular attention in studying
how the drying-air parameters inuence the drying
process has been given. The way the drying-air parameters interact and consequently dene the whole procedure was particularly examined by Mulet, Berna,
Borras, and Pinaga (1987) for carrot cubes. Several
researchers have investigated the drying kinetics of different agricultural products in order to determine the
water diusivity coecient, the suitable mathematical
model of the specic drying process, and the inuence of
the dierent drying conditions on the drying process.
Madamba, Driscoll, and Buckle (1996) have studied the
thin-layer drying characteristics of garlic slices. Karathanos and Belessiotis (1999) gave particular attention
to the drying of some fresh and semi-dried fruits.

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S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

Nomenclature
A
c, k, c0 ,
D
D0
Deff
Ea
Fo
Hm
Hn
Hvap
K
K0
M
M0

constant in Eq. (8) []

k0 constants of the GAB equation []
mass diusivity [m2 /s]
coecient in Eq. (4)
eective moisture diusivity [m2 /s]
energy of activation [kJ/mol]
Fourier number []
molar sorption enthalpies of multilayer [J/
mol K]
molar sorption enthalpies of monolayer [J/
mol K]
molar enthalpy of water vapor [J/mol K]
drying constant in Eq. (7) [h1 ]
coecient in Eq. (9)
bulk moisture content [kg H2 O/kg dry solids]
initial moisture content of the fresh product
[kg H2 O/kg dry solids]

Recently the dependence of the moisture diusivity

and the drying coecients on the drying-air parameters
was determined for grapes by Pahlavanzadeh, Basiri,
and Zarrabi (2001), and for onion by Sawhney, Sarsavadia, Pangavhane, and Singh (1999). The moisture
diusivity and drying kinetic equation for the convective
drying of grapes has been investigated by Azzouz,
Guizani, Lomaa, and Belgith (2002), while the hot-air
drying characteristics of red pepper were studied by
Doymaz and Pala (2002). Hot air and sun drying of
grape leather have been studied by Maskan, Kaya, and
Maskan (2002).
In the present study, in an eort to ll the gap that
exists in the literature regarding the drying of gs, several relevant tasks were conducted under controlled
drying conditions (mean air temperatures of 55, 65, 75,
85
C and air velocity values of 0.5, 1, 2, 3 m/s). In this
way, the inuence of those conditions on the eective
moisture diusivity and the coecients of the thin-layer
drying kinetics equation was determined.

2. Theoretical considerations
Ficks second law of the unsteady state diusion,
resulting by neglecting the eects of temperature and
total pressure gradients, can describe the transport of
water during the food dehydration process that take
place in the falling rate period (Crank, 1975), if only
radial diusion is considered. This can be solved analytically, for the case of drying of a spherical body with
constant radius r0 , if we assume constant values of the
diusion coecient D throughout the drying process,

Meq
Mm
MR
r
Rg
r0
R2
t
T
Tabs
v
aw
a 0 , a1

equilibrium moisture content [kg H2 O/kg dry

solids]
monolayer moisture content [kg H2 O/kg dry
solids]
moisture ratio
product radial coordinate [m]
universal gas constant [8.3143 J/mol K]
product radius [m]
correlation coecient
time [h]
air temperature [
C]
absolute air temperature [K]
air velocity [m/s]
water activity []
constants []

uniform initial moisture distribution, surface moisture

equal to the equilibrium moisture content and symmetrical radial diusion. The solution for Mt is given
by the following relationship:


1
Mt  Meq
6 X
1
2 2 Dt
2
exp

n
p
1
MR
p n1 n2
r02
M0  Meq
where MR (moisture ratio) is the unaccomplished
moisture change dened as the ratio of the free water
still to be removed at time t to the total free water initially available, and n 1; 2; 3; . . . the number of terms
taken into consideration.
This solution is the most widely investigated theoretical model in the thin-layer drying of dierent foods
(Jayas, Cenkowski, Pabis, & Muir, 1991; Vaccarezza &
Chirife, 1978). For long drying times (and neglecting the
higher order terms by setting n 1), it has been demonstrated that Eq. (1) could be further simplied to a
straight-line equation as (Riva & Peri, 1986):


Mt  Meq
lnMR ln
M0  Meq
  

6
2 Dt
ln

p
2
p2
r02
Several authors (e.g. Karatas, 1997; Madamba et al.,
1996; Pahlavanzadeh et al., 2001) used Eq. (1) in order
to describe the diusion that controls the drying
behavior assuming a constant radius r0 throughout the
drying process, and correlated the experimental data by
non-linear regression to obtain an eective diusion
coecient Deff . As a consequence, the diusion coecient is determined by plotting experimental drying data
in terms of lnMR versus time (as given in Eq. (2))

S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

(Lomauro, Bakshi, & Labuza, 1985). To overcome the

problem in the case of non-linear drying curves, the
method of slopes (Perry & Green, 1984) was suggested
in order to estimate an eective value of the moisture
diusivity for the whole process at given conditions. The
application of the method consists in the comparison of
the experimental drying curve (lnMR versus t) to the
theoretically obtained diusion curve (MR versus Fom )
for the given shape of the material. The eective moisture diusivity Deff is estimated from the equation:
h
i
Deff dMR=dtexp =dMR=dFom th  r02
r02 =p2   dMR=dtexp

The values of the eective moisture diusivity obtained

by the method of slopes, if compared with the accurate
ones obtained solving Ficks unsteady diusion, and
using iterative techniques (general implicit Eulers
method of nite dierences), are similar in materials
where liquid diusion is predominant (Karathanos,
Villalobos, & Saravacos, 1990).
The correlation between the drying conditions and
the values of the eective diusivity thus obtained can be
expressed by using an Arrhenius type equation (Karatas, 1997; Madamba et al., 1996; Maskan et al., 2002;
Vaccarezza & Chirife, 1978) in the form:


Ea
Deff D0 exp
4
Rg Tabs
which can be linearized by applying logarithms as:
ln Deff ln D0 

Ea 1

Rg Tabs

Mt  Meq
A  expKt
M0  Meq

The main advantage of Eq. (7) is the fact that the

coecients A and K introduced can be deduced by
taking logarithms of both sides of the relation and the
above relation can be linearized as:
lnMR ln A  K  t

The values of the K coecient obtained can be related

therefore to the drying conditions if approximated with
a simple Arrhenius-type equation (Rapusas & Driscoll,
1995; Uretir, Ozilgen, & Katnas, 1996; Verma, Bucklin,
Endan, & Wratten, 1985) of the form:


Ea
K K0 exp
9
Rg  Tabs
the coecients of which can be easily obtained if linearized as:
ln K ln K0 

Ea 1

Rg Tabs

10

The A and K0 coecients can be related to the dryingair conditions by applying regression analysis techniques.
The above Eqs. (5) and (8) were applied to t the
drying data identifying the inuence of the air temperature and velocity on the eective moisture diusivity
and the drying constants.

5
3. Materials and methods

the coecients of which can be easily obtained by

plotting on a lnDeff versus 1=Tabs diagram. The Ea and
D0 coecients can be subsequently related to the dryingair conditions by applying regression analysis techniques.
Although transport properties are necessary to fully
describe the drying kinetics of materials (Doymaz &
Pala, 2002; Karathanos & Belessiotis, 1999; Panchariya,
Popovic, & Sharma, 2002; Sokhansanj, 1984, Chap. 4), a
single drying constant K, combining the eect of the
various transport phenomena, is most commonly used
in practice.
dM
KM  Meq
dt

MR

451

where M is a bulk value of the moisture content for the

entire material and is only function of time.
For this relation it is assumed that the material layer
is thin enough and the air velocity is high, so that the
conditions of the drying air (humidity, temperature) are
kept constant throughout the material. The solution of
Eq. (6) obtained by integration is (Azzouz et al., 2002;
Pahlavanzadeh et al., 2001; Sawhney et al., 1999):

3.1. The experimental facility

An experimental tunnel dryer of the static-tray type,
developed at the Solar & Energy Systems Laboratoryof the NCSR Demokritos in Athens (Greece),
was used for this investigation. The experimental facility
suitable for drying small quantities of fresh product
(maximum 3 kg) was designed to ensure the control of
the drying conditions (temperature, humidity and
velocity of drying air) over a wide range of operation
parameters, providing at the same time continuous
measurement of all the parameters of the drying process.
The experimental dryer, apart from the drying section, consists of a centrifugal blower, an electrical
resistance air heating section, a steam air moistening
section, the measurement sensors and the data recording
and controlling system coupled with a personal computer.
The dry bulb temperature inside the drying chamber
was measured with an accuracy of 0.1
C using a
Pt 100 thermometer inserted in the middle position of
the inlet cross section. A humidity sensor was used to

452

S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

measure the relative humidity with an accuracy of 3%

Rh.
The air velocity was continuously monitored and
regulated with an accuracy of 2% of reading + (0.5%
of FS) using an anemometer. The anemometer stem was
inserted in a point above the tray in order to establish a
constant velocity hot air-stream in the area over the
dried product. A constant value of the air velocity in this
area is essential for the establishment of a steady-state
mass transfer conditions.
The weight of the dried sample was measured using a
precision balance with an accuracy of 0.01 g, having a
maximum capacity of 3000 g.
The measurement data were collected using a HP
34970A Data Logger interfaced to the personal computer and then recorded in xed time intervals. The
control of the air conditions (temperature and air
velocity) was achieved via software, specially developed
for the purpose. The air temperature was regulated
through controlling the electric resistances by acting
directly on the relative on/o relay switch. The air
velocity regulation was possible through controlling the
speed of the blower motor by directly acting on a frequency modulation device (inverter).
3.2. Sample preparation and drying conditions
The experiments were carried out using fresh gs of
the Kymi variety, with an average initial moisture content of approximately 1.9 kg of water/kg of dry solids
and had an average diameter of about 6 cm. In all cases
the load of the tray was kept constant at about 1820
kg/m2 . The fresh gs were cut longitudinally and placed
in the hot air-stream with the cut side facing upwards.
No pre-treatment was applied to the fresh product.
The temperature level in the dryer was set constant at
mean free-stream temperatures of 55, 65, 75 and 85
C
and regulated to 1
C by means of the temperature
controller. For each of the above temperatures, a drying
test was performed with the air velocity at the measurement point set constant at 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 m/s. The
air relative humidity was also regulated inside the dryer
to a value of 10 3%. The weight of the material was
measured in xed time intervals and recorded as a
function of drying time. The moisture content has been
determined both for the fresh and for the nal dehydrated products at 70
C for 24 h (AOAC, 1980). The
drying data from the dierent drying tests were then
expressed as moisture ratio MR versus drying time and
drying rate DR versus drying time.
3.3. The moisture equilibrium equation
The equilibrium moisture content, Meq , of gs at
dierent relative humidities and temperature levels was
calculated using the GAB (GuggenheimAndersonDe

Boer) relation which is frequently used by the investigators and is available in literature (Anderson, 1946;
Guggenheim, 1966; Van de Boer, 1953; Van den Borg,
1984). The GAB relation has the following analytical
form:
M
c  k  aw

Mm 1  kaw  1  kaw ckaw

11

where the coecients are given by the expressions:





DHc
DHk
c c0 exp
and k k0 exp
Rg T
Rg T
The constants were assigned the following values for
gs: Mm 11:7% db, c0 1:77, Hc 1:55 J/mol K,
k0 0:05, Hk 25:2 J/mol K (Marinos-Kouris &
Maroulis, 1995).
3.4. Analysis of the drying data and application of the
model
The drying data, when plotted in a lnDeff versus
1=Tabs diagram, resulted in a straight line similar to Eq.
(5) for the eective diusivity. The slope of the curves,
found by application of linear regression, yields the
coecient Ea =R, while the intercept is equal to lnD0 .
Applying the drying kinetics equation, in the form
given by Eq. (8), the data were plotted in a lnMR
versus drying time diagram. The slope of the straight
lines (the product dried predominantly in the falling
drying rate period), found by application of linear
regression, resulted in the drying parameter K, while the
intercept is equal to ln A.
The correlation coecient R2 was the primary criterion to select the best equation to account for the variation in the drying data experimentally obtained. This
coecient R2 was calculated as:
Pn
2
2
1 yi  f xi
12
R 1 P
n
y  yi 2
1 
where yi denotes the data points, y denotes the average
of the data points and f xi the value calculated from
the regression model. The values of the correlation
coecient thus obtained were reported in the relative
tables.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Inuence of the air parameters on the drying curves
The drying curves of all drying tests conducted are
reported in Figs. 14. In these gures the moisture ratio
MR was plotted versus time, for dierent values of air
temperature and for the air velocity value kept constant.
The drying rate DR is expressed as the amount of the
evaporated water over time [g water/h].

S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

453

1.2

Drying figs V=0.5 m/s

0.9

Drying figs V=2 m/s

85 degC

85 degC

0.8

75 degC

75 degC
65 degC

Moisture ratio

Moisture ratio

0.7

55 degC

0.6
0.5
0.4

65 degC

0.8

55 degC
0.6

0.4

0.3
0.2

0.2
0.1

10

20

30

40

50

60

10

20

time [h]

30

time [h]

Fig. 1. Air temperature eect on the drying curves for air velocity
0.5 m/s.

Fig. 3. Air temperature eect on the drying curves for air velocity
2 m/s.

In the drying curves the eect of increasing the air

temperature on drying rate, when air velocity was kept
constant, is evident. After an initial short period of
[tmax 1 h] which practically coincides with the heating
up period, the drying rate reaches a maximum value and
then the product dries following a falling drying rate.
The period of constant drying rate, as is typically the
case for fruits, is either very small or does not exist at all,
for all values of process variables tested. The value of
moisture ratio decreases rapidly, with consequent increase of the drying rate, when air temperature increased. The initial values of drying rate almost doubled

when the air temperature was increased from 55 to 85

C. This predominant direct eect of air temperature on
the drying rate, as clearly shown in the gures for all
temperatures, became less important after approximately 1015 h. After this period of time, the eect of
temperature change on the drying rate was reversed, as
can be seen in Fig. 2.
The experimental results are consistent with those
reported in the literature for other fruits and vegetables
in which the air temperature is considered the salient
factor aecting drying rate. The drying rate is considerably increased if higher temperatures were used as

1.2

140

Drying figs V=1 m/s

Drying figs V=1 m/s

120

85 degC

85 degC
75 degC

65 degC

0.8

55 degC
0.6

0.4

Drying rate [gH2O/h]

Moisture ratio

75 degC

0.2

65 degC
55 degC

80

60

40

20

0
0

(a)

100

10

20

time [h]

30

(b)

10

20

30

time [h]

Fig. 2. Air temperature eect on the drying curves for air velocity 1 m/s: (a) moisture ratio and (b) drying rate versus time.

454

S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

1.2

Drying figs V=3 m/s

85 degC

Moisture ratio

75 degC
65 degC

0.8

55 degC
0.6

0.4

0.2

10

20

30

40

50

60

time [h]
Fig. 4. Air temperature eect on the drying curves for air velocity
3 m/s.

reported by several investigators, e.g. Verma et al.

(1985) for rice, Mulet et al. (1987) for carrots, Tang and
Sokhansanj (1994) for lentils and Rapusas and Driscoll
(1995) for onion, etc.
The air velocities investigated were varied from 0.5 to
3 m/s in an attempt to determine the point beyond which
airow rate becomes insignicant. Some researchers
chose to neglect the eect of the air velocity concluding
that the resistance to moisture movement from the
surface to the drying medium is less important if compared to the internal resistance (Madamba et al., 1996).
In Fig. 5, the drying curves for dierent air velocity

1.2

Drying figs T=85 degC

3 m/s

2 m/s
1 m/s

Moisture ratio

0.8

0.5 m/s
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0

10

15

20

time [h]
Fig. 5. Air velocity eect on the drying curves for air temperature
85
C.

values, when temperature was kept constant at 85
C,

are presented. In this picture the eect of the air velocity
variation on the drying rate becomes evident. The
inuence is signicant in the beginning of drying, with a
drying rate of 150 g water/h for the 3 m/s curve, almost
three times the corresponding value for 0.5 m/s, implying that the evaporation process took place at the surface and was therefore more directly aected by the
velocity. Subsequently, and after a short period of time
(45 h), the predominance of the air velocity variation
on the drying rate became less important (the curve for 3
m/s almost coincides with the one for 2 m/s).
The eect of air velocity variation can thus, be neglected for values higher than 2 m/s, because after that
limit the drying curves are practically identical showing
that the air velocity had no discernible eect on the
drying curves. The eect of the air velocity magnitude is
most pronounced at the initial time period of drying (for
2 h) then becoming less important. In all drying curves
traced by keeping the air temperature constant, the
drying rate corresponding to an air velocity of 1 m/s
after the initial period was predominant. The reason for
this eect could be attributed to the particular ow
pattern established inside the dryer and around the dried
product (ow separation zones, etc.) that directly affected the transfer coecients. The eect of air velocity
after approximately 45 h was vanished and became
negligible when compared with the eect of air temperature. The evaporation of water initially takes place
at the surface but gradually the evaporation front recedes towards the interior of the solid, with the moisture
diusion process becoming the most important factor.
4.2. Inuence of the air parameters on diusivity and
energy of activation
The moisture ratio of the experimental drying curves
was calculated and plotted in a semi-log diagram versus time (in seconds), in view of Eq. (2), where
t  D=r02 Fom is the Fourier number for the mass
transfer. The curves obtained are of the form depicted in
Fig. 6 for an air velocity of 1 m/s. All other curves had a
similar form and it was considered that the drying of gs
took place in one falling rate period only. That means
that liquid diusion is the driving force controlling the
drying process and therefore the curves are straight
lines. The eective diusivity was calculated with the
method of slopes as previously described and the calculated values of Deff are reported below in Table 1.
The eective diusivity Deff for gs varied from
8.40 1010 to 1.13 109 m2 /s for the dierent values of
temperature and air velocity. The values lie within the
general range of 1011 109 m2 /s for food materials
(Zogzas, Maroulis, & Marinos-Kouris, 1996). In Fig. 7
the diagram of Deff versus air velocity is reported,
showing clearly a dependence of the eective diusivity

S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

455

6E-09

Drying figs V=1 m/s

-0.2

85 degC

85 degC
5E-09

75 degC

75 degC

-0.4

65 degC

65 degC

ln(MR)

55 degC

-0.8

Deff [m2s]

4E-09

-0.6

55 degC

3E-09

-1
2E-09

-1.2
-1.4

1E-09

-1.6
0

-1.8

50

V [m/s]

100

time [s] X 1000

Fig. 7. Air velocity eect on the eective diusivity when T constant.

Fig. 6. ln MR versus time [s] for v 1 m/s.

on the air temperature and velocity and a value of air

velocity between 1.3 and 2 m/s (probably 1.5 m/s) is
giving the max Deff .
The logarithms of the calculated eective diusivities
were plotted versus the reciprocal of the temperature
(for each value of air velocity), in view of the simplied
equation (5). From the slopes of the lines the energy of
activation Ea [kJ/mol] was calculated and the values
obtained are reported in Table 2, along with the corresponding value of the coecient D0 . In Fig. 8, the calculated ln Deff versus the reciprocal of the absolute
temperature is plotted, according to the linearized
equation (5), while in Fig. 9 the energy of activation was
plotted versus the air velocity. The values obtained
varied from a minimum of 30.8 kJ/mol to a maximum of
48.47 kJ/mol exhibiting a sigmoid distribution with an
apparent minimum at a value of approximately 1.5 m/s.
This behavior can be attributed to aerodynamic eects,
related to the particular ow pattern established around
the dried product, as previously mentioned.
The distribution of the energy of activation Ea is
similar to the one found by Uretir et al. (1996) for the
drying of apple cubes in similar temperature and
velocity ranges. The eect of air velocity variation van-

Table 2
Energy of activation and coecient D0 (Eq. (5))
Ea [kJ/mol]
D0

v 0:5 m/s

v 1 m/s

v 2 m/s

v 3 m/s

37.27
4.83 104

30.81
8.77 105

45.81
2.01 102

48.47
5.99 102

ishes for values higher than 2 m/s, as noted earlier. This

value of air velocity is very close to the value of 1.2 m/s,
which was found to be the limit beyond which no signicant increase in the drying rate was observed by
Mathioulakis, Karathanos, and Belessiotis (1998), who
also studied the drying of gs.
However, the values of the energy of activation lie
within the general range of 12.7110 kJ/mol for food
materials (Zogzas et al., 1996). This is lower than the
range of 51110 kJ/mol for apple and within the range
of 31108 kJ/mol for potato.
The data obtained for Ea were found to be best
approximated by applying a sigmoid relationship of the
type reported below:
Ea

a  b c  vd
b vd

13

Table 1
Eective diusivity and correlation coecients when Eq. (2) was tted
T [
C]
85
75
65
55

v 0:5 m/s

v 1 m/s

v 2 m/s

v 3 m/s

Deff

R2

Deff

R2

Deff

R2

Deff

R2

2.43E)09
1.68E)09
1.13E)09
7.77E)10

0.997
0.999
0.991
0.990

3.36E)09
2.59E)09
1.79E)09
1.33E)09

0.997
0.999
0.997
0.999

5.13E)09
3.05E)09
2.01E)09
1.23E)09

0.999
0.996
0.996
0.995

2.73E)09
1.64E)09
8.40E)10
6.48E)10

0.993
0.935
0.929
0.922

456

S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

0.07

-19

0.06
-19.5

0.05
0.04

Do

ln(Deff)

-20

-20.5

0.03
0.02

3 m/s
2 m/s
-21

0.01

1 m/s

0.5 m/s
-21.5
2.7

-0.01
2.8

2.9

3.1

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

V [m/s]

1/T (X 1000)
Fig. 8. Air temperature eect on the eective diusivity when
v constant.

Fig. 10. Air velocity eect on D0 coecient.

of D0 versus air velocity, shown in Fig. 10, it is evident

that for values of air velocity below 1.2 m/s the eect is
negligible.

60

Ea calc
Ea aprox

E a [kJ/mol]

50

4.3. Inuence of the air parameters on the drying

constants

40

30

20
0

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

V [m/s]
Fig. 9. Air velocity eect on the energy of activation.

The coecients calculated are a 34:037663, b

14,407.625, c 48:47102, d 15:96189, having a correlation coecient of R2 0:999.
The values of D0 versus the air velocity were then
plotted and a second degree polynomial regression was
applied, having a correlation coecient of R2 0:999.
The relation thus obtained is as follows:
D0 0:011049  v2  0:014638  v 0:004566

14

The coecient D0 is a constant equivalent to the diusivity at innitely high temperature. From the diagram

The drying data were plotted on a lnMR versus

time t (in hours) diagram, resulting in a straight line
according to the linear expression of Eq. (8). The slope
of the line determines the drying coecient K while the
intercept equals ln A. In Fig. 6, the family of lines obtained on a logarithmic plot for dierent air temperatures and for an air velocity of 1 m/s is shown. The other
diagrams for dierent air velocities showed similar
trends. The values of the drying coecients K yielded
are reported in Table 3.
Subsequently, the values of the K coecient obtained
were approximated with a simple Arrhenius equation of
the form of Eq. (9). The logarithms of the calculated K
coecient were plotted versus the reciprocal of the
absolute temperature (for each air velocity value), in
view of the simplied equation (10). From the slopes of
the lines the values of the energy of activation Ea [kJ/
mol] were deduced again. From the intersection, the
values of the K0 coecients were determined and the
relative values were found to be best approximated by
an exponential relationship of the form:
K0 a0 expa1  v

15

where the coecients are: a0 1341:2 and a1 2:8404

[s1 ]. In Fig. 11, the linear expression of Eq. (9), repre-

S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

457

Table 3
Drying coecient K, A and correlation coecients obtained by tting the data according to Eq. (8)
T [
C]
85
75
65
55

v 0:5 m/s

v 1 m/s
2

0.09682
0.06691
0.04585
0.03176

0.97856
0.98916
0.91141
0.90339

0.997
0.999
0.991
0.990

v 2 m/s
2

v 3 m/s

R2

0.13370
0.10349
0.07173
0.05384

0.98383
0.99767
0.96231
0.98270

0.997
0.999
0.997
0.999

0.20488
0.12142
0.08078
0.04998

0.98710
0.96401
0.94616
0.93499

0.999
0.996
0.996
0.995

0.13712
0.05884
0.03377
0.02656

0.88600
0.73045
0.70080
0.70289

0.977
0.923
0.929
0.922

An analogous curve-tting procedure was applied for

the A coecient and the relation obtained as best
approximating the data is of the following form:

-1
3 m/s
-1.5

2 m/s

A 0:000104  T 2  0:012291  T 0:256909  v2

1 m/s
-2

0:000203  T 2 0:021976  T  0:302885  v

0.5 m/s

ln(K)

0:000059  T 2  0:002967  T 0:765417

-2.5

16
In Fig. 12, the diagram of the A coecient variation with
the air velocity at dierent air temperatures is shown.

-3

-3.5

5. Conclusions
-4
2.8

2.9

3.1

1/T (X 1000)
Fig. 11. Air temperature eect on the drying coecient K when
v constant.

1.1

0.9

0.8

0.7

85 degC
75 degC

0.6

65 degC
55 degC

0.5

V [m/s]
Fig. 12. Air velocity eect on A coecient.

senting the ln K versus the reciprocal of the absolute

temperature, is shown for the present data.

An experimental drying facility was developed for the

investigation of the drying process mainly of agricultural
products, for a wide range of drying air conditions. The
inuence of drying air temperature in the range of 5585

C and of the air velocity in the range from 0.5 to 3 m/s,
for gs was studied.
The drying of gs took place predominantly in the
falling rate period for the entire range of temperature
and velocity values investigated. Higher air temperatures aect signicantly the drying rate at the rst stages
of drying, but their relative eect diminishes after a
period of about 1015 h.
The large inuence of the air velocity at the rst
stages of drying is evident, as well as the relative
insensitivity of the drying process at the later times. A
characteristic value, beyond which airow rate becomes
insignicant, was observed and this was determined as
2 m/s.
The calculated values of the eective diusivity lie
within the general range typical for the drying of food
products, as reported in the literature, and a point of an
apparent maximum for this parameter was determined
for a value of air velocity of approximately 1.5 m/s. A
range of 12 m/s for the drying air velocity, has to be
preferably established inside an industrial dryer for
agricultural products, giving the best cost/eciency
performance for the drying of the gs.
Relations for the calculation of the eective diusivity
and the drying constants A and K, for the drying of gs,
were determined and reported.

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S.J. Babalis, V.G. Belessiotis / Journal of Food Engineering 65 (2004) 449458

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