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

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.