Microwave drying kinetics of mussels (Mytilus edulis)

Abstract

Mussels (Mytilus edulis) can be consumed as an alternative food product for several meats, such as beef and fish, due to their high protein content. In this study, several microwave power levels (90, 180, 360, 600 and 800 W) were applied to Mytilus edulis to determine their effect on drying kinetics, rehydration characteristics and energy consumptions. The optimal drying times of 16, 5 and 2 min were determined for microwave power levels of 90, 180 and 360 W, respectively. However, at the microwave power levels of 600 and 800 W, the optimal drying times were 80 and 60 s, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the drying kinetics, rehydration characteristics and energy consumptions are slightly affected by the change in microwave power levels. Seven different thin-layer drying models that are widely used in the literature were applied to the experimental data. The results showed that the Weibull model best fits the experimental data (R 2: 0.998135–0.999929, χ 2: 0.000029–0.000401, and RMSE: 0.004172–0.018733) of the drying kinetics of Mytilus edulis. The effective moisture diffusivity was determined to be between 2.74 × 10−8 and 4.79 × 10−7 m2/s. Using a modified Arrhenius-type equation, the activation energy was found to be 95.131 kW/kg. The microwave power level of 360 W was found to be the most effective, considering the minimum energy consumption.