The effect of temperature and slice thickness on drying kinetics tomato in the infrared dryer

Abstract

In this study thin layer drying of tomato slices were investigated in the infrared dryer. Drying rate increased with increasing temperature and reduction thickness and thus reduced the drying time. The effective diffusivity increased with increasing temperature and with increasing thickness of the samples. The effective diffusivity values changed from 1.094 × 10−9 to 4.468 × 10−9 m2/s and for activation energy varied from 110 to 120 kJ/mol. The best model for drying process of tomato slices was Midilli model.