Isotherm Adsorption Behavior and Drying Kinetics of Black Pepper

Abstract

The objective of this research were to evaulate equilibrium moisture contents (EMC) of black pepper using the gravimetric-static method and to study the drying kinetics of pepper using 1-stage hot air (HA) drying, 1-stage infrared (IR) drying, 2-stages drying with microwave (MW) and IR and 2-stages drying with MW and HA including to the specific energy consumption determination. For the first objective, the five saturated salt solutions were used for providing equlibrate state between pepper and surrounding at temperature ranging of 40-65°C correlated to relative humidity ranging of 10-90%. The results showed that EMC value decreased with increasing temperature at constant relative humidity. To evaluate the EMC value, the experimental data was simulated by four conventional EMC models and the criteria of the best fiiting models were determined by the determination of coefficient (R2) and the root mean square error (RMSE) value. The results showed that the calculated value using the Modified Oswin model was the most suitable for describing the relationship among equilibrium moisture content, relative humidity and temperature. To study effect of drying condition on drying kinetics, the initial moisture content and final moisture content after drying of papper sample was in ranges of 300-400% dry-basis and 12-16% dry-basis, respectively. The experimetal data were simulsted using empirical drying models and the results showed that the drying temperature relatively affected to drying rate of pepper while the evolution of moisture transfer was in the drying falling ratefor all drying strategies. The 1-stage IR drying and 2-stages drying with MW and IR provided low specific energy consumption (SEC) (0.11-0.15 MJ/kg of water evaporated) compared to the other drying strategies (0.87-1.52 MJ/kg of water evaporated). Moreover, the SEC of pepper drying decreased with increasing of drying temperature.