Abstract
In the present research, effect of methods that use the microwave (90, 160 and 350 W), infrared (60, 70 and 80 °C), and freeze drying for turmeric samples on the drying kinetics, effective moisture diffusivity and color were analyzed. Also ten distinct thin layer models of drying were used to predict their kinetics. Depending on the evaluation of the statistical tests, models of Midilli et al and Wang & Singh models were found the optimum ones for explaining drying characteristics of turmeric. Among the used methods, the fastest and slowest drying time was 65 min with microwave drying (350 W) and 600 min with freeze drying, respectively. The calculations demonstrate that the maximum effective moisture diffusivity value is obtained in microwave drying (350 W). Our study shows that although the freeze-drying increases the drying time, it showed closest color results against to fresh samples. In conclusion, microwave, infrared and freeze drying methods applied to turmeric should improve with the combined drying applications.
Highlights
Turmeric is a member of the Zingiberaceae family and genus Curcuma (Singh et al 2010; Gupta et al 2015)
The Midilli et al and Wang & Singh models might be accepted as demonstrating the thin-layer drying behavior of the turmeric samples
Various methods could be used as a drying opportunity of turmeric
Summary
Turmeric is a member of the Zingiberaceae family and genus Curcuma (Singh et al 2010; Gupta et al 2015). Turmeric comprises three compounds namely bis-dimethoxy curcumin, dimethoxy curcumin, curcumin which is biologically active (Riaz et al 2015) It has various beneficial effects on cardioprotective, hypolipidemic, antibacterial, antiHIV, anti-tumor, anti-carcinogenic and anti-arthritic activities (Prathapan et al 2009). It is used as a spice for foodstuff with fresh or as dried. Dried turmeric price for selling worldwide is influenced by many quality factors (moisture content, color, and phenolic contents) (Hirun et al 2014)
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