Study of Drying Characteristics of Moringa Leaves

Abstract

To simulate the drying process and to design the equipment needed for drying of Moringa leaves, study of its modeling is important. During the experiment, different mathematical equations were used to best fit the model describing the drying behavior of blanched and un-blanched Moringa leaves at 400C, 500C & 600C. Effective moisture diffusivity & activation energy of Moringa leaves were also determined. It was observed that, Pelag’s model was the best fit for drying of blanched Moringa leaves at 500C (R 2 ≥0.999). For blanched Moringa leaves sample, effective moisture diffusivity varied from 2.85 x 10-7 to 7.57 x 10-7 , whereas its activation energy for drying was observed as 1821.76 KJ/mol. This knowledge can be useful for designing/modeling mass transfer processes of Moringa leaves during its storage. Keywords: Moringa, blanching, Pelage model, effective moisture diffusivity, activation energy