Quantitative assesment of the improvement of the drying process by increasing the turbulence level

Abstract

The drying process of vegetable species is a widely used technique for food conservation. The process requires large amounts of energy and it is responsible for the emission of pollutants to the environment. Therefore, many investigations have been made in order to improve the energy aspects of the process. It is very common that the effect of temperature and drying air mass-flow rate on the drying process are included in research but the effect of the turbulence level has not been studied yet. In this paper, the effect of the drying air turbulence level, temperature and mass-flow rate in the drying time, efficiency and energy consumption involved in the drying process of three types of chilies are studied. Under the conditions studied the turbulence level is the most influential factor in the drying process, followed by drying temperature. Also, the energy invested in increasing the turbulence level is very advantageous.