Modeling the Drying Kinetics of Pigeon Pea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh]

We set out to model the oven-drying kinetics of a legume known as pigeon pea, harvested in the Bouenza department in the south-west of the Republic of Congo. The drying kinetics of pigeon peas was carried out in an oven under experimental conditions using temperatures of: 50°C, 60°C and 70°C. Seven mathematical models were used to describe pigeon pea drying. During drying, water loss was faster and shorter at 70°C [10.446 g/25 g wet weight (wwb) for 320 min (5.3 h)] compared to 50°C [10.996 g/25 g wet weight (wwb) for 520 min (8.6 h)] and 60°C [10.616 g/25 g wet weight (wwb) for 420 min (7.0 h)] where it was slower and longer. With regard to modeling, and based on the principle of choosing the right model focusing on the high value of R2 and low values of χ2 and RMSE, two models were selected, the Midili model for temperatures of 50°C and 60°C and the Henderson and Pabis model modified for temperature of 70°C showed better results. The R2, χ2 and RMSE values calculated for pigeon pea are 0.99985, 3.93404E-5 and 0.00627;0.9997, 9.245E-5 and 0.00962;0.99996, 1.56332E-5 and 0.00395 respectively at 50°C, 60°C and 70°C.

Microwave drying characteristics and kinetics of ilmenite

The microwave drying of ilmenite was investigated.The effects of power levels and sample mass on drying characteristics of moisture content,drying rate,moisture ratio were studied,with microwave power ranging from 119 W to 700 W and sample mass from 5 g to 25 g.The drying processes were completed within 2-8 min at different conditions.The moisture content and drying rates are found to be dramatically affected by microwave power density.For all drying processes the prior microwave absorption of moisture produces an accelerating peak on the drying rate curves in the initial stage.For the sample mass of 25 g and power of 385 W,the drying kinetics were studied.The experimental results fit better to the Henderson-Pabis index model rather than the Page＇s semi-empirical model;the drying rate constant k is increased with the increase of microwave power and decrease of sample mass.

Performance Analysis and Drying Kinetics of Maize in an AflaSTOP Dryer

The performance of an AflaSTOP dryer which utilises biomass energy for drying maize was investigated. The drying behaviour of maize grains in the dryer was also investigated using ten (10) thin-layer mathematical models. The models were compared based on coefficient of determination (R2) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values between experimental and predicted moisture ratios. At an average drying air temperature of 50°C and drying air velocity of 2.5 m/s, maize at average moisture content (MC) of 17.5% (wb) was dried to an average MC of 11.5% (wb) in three (3) hours. The drying and thermal efficiency were calculated as 81.1% and 29.6% respectively. Overall, drying took place in the falling rate period. The Logistics model was best to describe the thin-layer drying kinetics of maize in the dryer with R2 value of 0.9902 and RMSE value of 0.04908.

Drying kinetics of soy protein isolate-corn starch film during preparation and its moisture adsorption characteristics during storage

To better understand the mass transfer process of moisture in the soy protein isolate-corn starch(SPI-CS)films during preparation and storage process,the drying kinetics model of SPI-CS films with different formation conditions during the drying process and the moisture adsorption characteristics of the SPI-CS films under different humidity conditions were investigated.Within the range of experimental conditions,the moisture migration rule in the SPI-CS films during the drying preparation was combined with the Page model which was expressed as MR=exp(-kt^(n)).It was found that the adsorption equilibrium needed shorter time(about 3 h)when the SPI-CS films existed in the environment with lower humidity(RH<54%).Additionally,the secondorder adsorption kinetic equation was successful to describe the moisture adsorption characteristic of the SPICS films during storage under different humidity conditions.

Modeling the Drying Kinetics of Earth Bricks Stabilized with Cassava Flour Gel and Amylopectin

Earth bricks could contribute to alleviate the housing shortage in the world, thanks to their low cost, easy production, and low environmental impact. However, to manufacture bricks with required properties, many raw soils must be ameliorated. In Central and Eastern Africa, the waste water of the cassava processing is used to improve earth brick mechanical properties. This technique is interesting, because it is sustainable, low-cost and easy to implement. But, studies on this stabilization method are scarce, in particular on the drying kinetics of these bricks. Now, it is important to know the drying duration, because the earth brick’s strength is strongly correlated to its moisture content. Thus, this study aims to quantify and to model the effect of adding cassava flour gel and amylopectin on the drying kinetics of earth bricks. Depending on the soil nature, the drying duration decreases from 7% to 25% for a stabilizer content of 20%. For the five models used, the coefficient of determination is superior to 0.997 and the chi square is inferior to 3 × 10&#8722;4. In average, the best model is Khazaei, followed in order by Avrami-Page, diffusion, Yong and Peleg. The effective coefficient of diffusion of water is about 4 × 10&#8722;5 m&#8901;s&#8722;2. The parameter T of the Khazaei’s model is strongly correlated to the drying duration and the stabilizer content, and their relationships have been deduced.

Isothermal Kinetics Modelling of the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis over the Spray-Dried Fe-Cu-K Catalyst

The isothermal kinetics of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis （FTS） over Fe-Cu-K spray-dried catalyst was studied in a spinning basket reactor. The experiments were carried out at a constant temperature of 523 K, n（H2）/n（CO） feed ratios of 0.8 2.0, reactor pressures of 1.1 2.5 MPa, and space velocity of 0.556× 10^-3 Nm^3/kgcat·s. Kinetic model for hydrocarbon formation was derived on the basis of simplified carbide mechanism to reduce the number of parameters. Two individual rate constants for methane and ethene were considered. Furthermore, the model was modified empirically by non-intrinsic effect, such as physisorption and fictitious olefin pressures that were taken into account, and the influences of secondary reaction of α-olefins on product distribution. The simulation results showed that the experimental phenomena of FTS and the deviations from ASF distribution, such as the relatively high yield of methane and low yield of ethene observed experimentally could be depicted basically.

Research on the Degradation Kinetics Model in the Drying Process of Chinese Herb

Curative compositions such as catolpol in Rehmannia Glutinosa, flavone in Ophiopogon Japonicus and ginsenoside Re in Panax Ginseng in Chinese herbs were measured as the experimental indices by the method of high performance liquid chromatography under different drying conditions. The reaction order and parameters of the degradation kinetics model were determined and the model was verified by experiments. It was indicated that by comparing with the thin drying method, the prospective model could predict the degradation of curative compositions with drying time, temperature and moisture content of herbal materials with enough precision and could be used to simulate the degradation in the drying process of Chinese herb.

Drying Kinetics of Paper Mill Sludge

Drying experiments of two paper mill sludge were carried using hot air with a temperature range of 50?C - 80?C and an air velocity of 0.96 m/son a laboratory convective dryer. The drying characteristics were discussed and the drying kinetic equation was solved. The dependence of the reaction rate constant on the drying temperature was given by Arrhenius equation, and the activation energies for moisture diffusion in paper mill sludge sample A and B were found to be 21.53 kJ/mol and 15.38 kJ/mol, respectively.

Influence of Osmotic Dehydration with High Electric Field on the Drying Kinetics and Mass Transfer of Green Apples

Traditional thermal methods of drying food have often led to loss of flavours, nutrients, vitamins, etc., which encourages non-thermal pretreatments such as osmotic dehydration （OD） and/or high electric field （HEF） application to improve the overall product quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of osmotic dehydration （50% sucrose） with high electric field strengths of 0.5 and 1.0 kV/cm as pretreatments on the drying kinetics and mass transfer of green apples during convective drying at 65 ~C and microwave drying at 1 W/g. The added value of the OD and HEF on the drying kinetics, and the effective mass transfer coefficients of the subsequent drying methods were investigated through this research. The efficacy of these pre-treatments was assessed and compared using cell disintegration index, product texture and thus bring forth new correlations between these pre-treatments and the cell disintegration index using dielectric spectroscopy and its effect on the product texture.

Experimental Study of the Drying Kinetics of the Coconut Shells (Nucifera) of Cameroon

Water diffusion of two species of coconut shells (CS) nucifera from Cameroon, in the case of drying, was experimentally studied. The experiment was done with the aid of an oven, by the method of gravimetric batch control of the mass of the test samples with the temperatures varied from 70° to 180° Celsius. The shells of mature coconuts from two species were conserved in the laboratory at a temperature ranging between 20° and 23° Celsius for two months before being mechanically cleaned. This study allows not only the determination of the water content of the shells, but also the identification of the drying model. It is thus from the ten model tests, and the statistical analysis shows that the Midilli model best predicted this drying phenomenon. The coefficient of effective diffusion was determined at different temperatures which permitted the evaluation of the activation energy per the Arrhenius equation.

The Application of a Mathematical Modelling of Drying Kinetics in the Natural Solar Drying of Banana

In this work, a new mathematical modelling of drying kinetics is described. At first, the modelling of the transfer speed （St） of water was performed. Then St was used as basis to state the drying rate model. The drying rate depends not only on drying time, but also on some modelling parameters which are themselves time-dependent. All the modelling parameters are calculated directly from the experimental drying data. Then the theoretical model of the moisture content was stated. Subsequently, the drying kinetics of natural solar drying of plantain banana was studied as illustration. The drying rate was investigated. The comparison with other models encountered in literatures proved that the current theoretical model was decidedly more accurate. Then the modelling of moisture content of banana was performed and the results were compared with the Henderson and Pabis model. The current theoretical modelling provided by far the best fit.

Determination of the Drying Kinetics Modeling and Activation Energy of Medium-Grain and Long-Grain Rough Rice under Isothermal Conditions

The available literature revealed a gap in reporting the rough rice drying kinetics parameters under isothermal conditions, particularly for Arkansas medium- and long-grain varieties. Therefore, medium-grain (RO170112 and Titan) and the long-grain (Diamond and Wells) rough rice varieties were dried under isothermal conditions. The drying process occurred under 40°C, 50°C, 60°C, 70°C, 80°C, 90°C, and 100°C in a system emulating the thermogravimetric analyzer. Drying kinetics models were studied for four well-known models: Page, Newton, Logarithmic, and Henderson & Pabis. The drying kinetics constants were determined for the four studied models. The initial moisture content of rough rice was 28.2% db. Profound moisture reduction was observed during the first three hours of drying, followed by less moisture content reduction. The results showed that at the drying temperature of 100°C and after 6 hours of the drying process, the lowest moisture content reached 13.9% (db) for Titan rough rice. The drying rate of rough rice ranged between 7.41 and 2.01%/h during the first hour of drying under the studied temperature range of 40°C to 100°C. The drying rate was higher with the higher temperature levels during the first three hours. Among all the studied models, the Page, Newton, and Logarithmic models best fit 25%, 25%, and 50% of the twenty-eight studied cases. The challenge that arose from these results led to evolving a mathematical solution by joining the three models in one equation. The combined model showed the best fit for all the studied cases, with R2 ranging between 0.9999 and 0.9954 for the medium- and long-grain rice varieties. Increasing the drying temperature increased the effective moisture diffusivity values. The highest effective moisture diffusivity of 18.104 × 10-9 m2/s was obtained at the drying temperature of 100°C for medium-grain rice, Titan. The activation energy values ranged between 17.77 and 24.48 kJ/mol for the four rough rice varieties.

Kinetic model research on drying characteristics of artificial magnetite green pellet

In this study,the effects of drying temperature,hot airflow speed and diameter of green pellet on drying rate of artificial magnetite pellet were deeply investigated to clarify the drying characteristics of artificial magnetite green pellet.The results show that the drying process of artificial magnetite green pellet has three stages,accelerated drying stage,constant drying stage and decelerated drying stage.And drying temperature and hot airflow speed both have significant reciprocal effects on moisture ratio and drying rate of green pellet during the drying process.However,the diameter of green pellet has little effect on drying process of green pellet.Then the drying fitting models of Correction Henderson and Pabis,Lewis,Correction Page(III),Wang and Singh are used to describe the drying kinetics of artificial magnetite green pellet.The fitting results indicate that the drying process of artificial magnetite pellet can be described by Correction Page(III)model accurately.Finally,the contrast experiments demonstrate that the fitting model can well describe the actual drying process.

Kinetic Models for Drying Techniques—Food Materials

Drying operations can help in reducing the moisture content of food materials for avoidance of microbial growth and deterioration, for shelf life elongation, to minimize packaging and improving storage for easy transportation. Thin-layer drying of materials is necessary to understand the fundamental transport mechanism and a prerequisite to successfully simulate or scale up the whole process for optimization or control of the operating conditions. Researchers have shown that to rely solely on experimental drying practices without mathematical considerations for the drying kinetics, can significantly affect the efficiency of dryers, increase the cost of production, and reduce the quality of the dried product. An effective model is necessary for the process design, optimization, energy integration and control;hence, the use of mathematical models in finding the drying kinetics of agricultural products is very important. The statistical criteria in use for the evaluation of the best model(s) has it that coefficient of determination (R2) has to be close to unity while the rest statistical measures will have values tending to zero. In this work, the essence of drying using thin-layer, general approaches to modeling for food drying mechanisms thin layer drying models and optimization of the drying processes have been discussed.

Study of Kinetic Characteristics for Drying Rice Husk

Rice husk (biomass fuel) samples have been dried in drying oven and a series of drying curve for illustrating moisture migration of rice husk have been obtained. It is first research for rice husk drying,and it can provide reference of fuel processing for different boilers which require rice husk with various water contents. In this paper,we apply Page equation to reflect the drying process and obtain drying characteristic curve,then analyze the drying law. Kinetic analysis of the results of moisture migration test has been done,after which, effective moisture diffusion coefficient,activation energy and drying kinetic equation of rice husk samples are obtained in test temperature range (80 - 130 ℃) . And these results show specific influence law of temperature for effective moisture diffusion coefficient.

NaOH Activation of Raw Soils: Effect of NaOH Content on the Drying Kinetic and Its Modelling

NaOH activation of soils is an affordable and promising way to improve mechanical properties of earthen bricks. If for well-activated geopolymers, the hard polymeric network limits the influence of water on mechanical properties, for the weakly activated one, as non-calcined raw clayey soils, the influence of water on these properties would be more critical. This work aims to determine the effect of sodium hydroxide concentration on the drying kinetics of bricks made with raw clayey soils, and to model this kinetics. The results show that the drying kinetics is governed by the diffusion of water due to the absence of free water. The drying duration increases linearly with the increasing of NaOH content, while the volumetric shrinkage decreases, probably thanks to the reduction of the material porosity during the formation of the zeolitic structures. Besides, the drying duration is strongly and negatively correlated with the initial drying rate (&#8722;0.97) and bricks did not show visible cracks. Among the five parametric models tested, the Khazaei’s model is the best in terms of all statistical criteria considered. For all models used, the coefficient of determination is ranged from 0.993 to 0.999, and the evolution of the models’ parameters is in accordance with that of the drying kinetics observed.

Solvent transport dynamics and its effect on evolution of mechanical properties of nitrocellulose(NC)-based propellants under hot-air drying process

Appropriate drying process with optimized controlling of drying parameters plays a vital role in the improvement of the quality and performance of propellant products.However,few research on solvent transport dynamics within NC-based propellants was reported,and its effect on the evolution of mechanical properties was not interpreted yet.This study is conducted to gain a comprehensive understanding of hot-air drying for NC-based propellants and clarify the effect of temperature on solvent transport behavior and further the change of mechanical properties during drying.The drying kinetic curves show the drying time required is decreased but the steady solvent content is increased and the drying rate is obviously increased with the increase of hot-air temperatures,indicating hot-air temperatures have a significant effect on drying kinetics.A modified drying model was established,and results show it is more appropriate to describe solvent transport behavior within NC-based propellants.Moreover,two linear equations were established to exhibit the relationship between solvent content and its effect on the change of tensile properties,and the decrease of residual solvent content causes an obvious increase of tensile strength and tensile modulus of propellant products,indicating its mechanical properties can be partly improved by adjustment of residual solvent content.The outcomes can be used to clarify solvent transport mechanisms and optimize drying process parameters of double-based gun propellants.

Effects of drying methods on the drying kinetics and quality of maize

At present, maize is mostly dried by hot air, and the quality of maize after drying in this way is poor. So it is particularly important to explore the influence of new drying methods on the drying characteristics and quality of maize. Five drying methods, including hot air drying (HAD), vacuum drying (VD), infrared drying (IRD), variable temperature drying (VTD), and vacuum IR drying (VID), were used to analyze the drying rate (DR), moisture ratio (MR), effective moisture diffusion coefficient (Deff), hardness, nutrient composition, color, and microstructure of maize to investigate the effects of different drying methods on the drying kinetics and quality of maize kernels. The results showed that among the five drying methods, the Modified Page drying model could most reflect moisture changes. VTD was better than the other methods in terms of DR, cracking rate, hardness, and crude fat. The highest lysine content in maize was obtained using HAD. The protein content was higher in IRD (p<0.05). The dough characteristics were better in VID and VTD than in IRD. The IRD, VTD, and VID-treated maize had a better color appearance. Microstructure analysis showed that the starch granules of VID, IRD, and VD-treated maize were oval, but large gaps could be found between the granules. The granules were also densely stacked, with most of them relatively intact. Correlation and clustering analysis showed different degrees of correlation between the physicochemical indicators. The overall quality in VTD was the best, followed by VID, whereas HAD and VD showed poorer quality. In terms of economic value and product quality, VTD was the most suitable drying method for maize. This study can provide a theoretical basis for the application of maize drying in the processing industry.

Influence of Variety and Maturity Level on Natural Convective Heat Drying of Four Onion Varieties Grown in Senegal

The considerable post-harvest losses (5% to 40% depending on storage time) due to the high water content level of the onion varieties in Senegal are the main cause of the problem of access to local onion all year round. Therefore, drying is one of the techniques that can be used to solve the problem of onion perishability. This study deals with the characterization of naturally convective kinetics drying of four onion varieties in relation to their maturity level. The experiment was carried out using the gravimetric method. The Welch and Turkey statistical tests display a significant difference between the effective diffusivity coefficients depending on the maturity level within each variety and across the four varieties. The effective diffusivity coefficients of the Galmi Violet, Safari, Gandiol F1 and Orient F1varieties range from 2.18 × 10&minus;11 ± 2.69 × 10&minus;12 to 1.32 × 10&minus;10 ± 1.17 × 10&minus;11 m2&sdot;s&minus;1 at a maturity level less than 80%. When the maturity level is greater than 85%, the effective diffusivity coefficients range from 1.30 × 10&minus;11 ± 1.24 × 10&minus;12 to 8.05 × 10&minus;11 ± 8.94 × 10&minus;13 m2&sdot;s&minus;1. As far as the activation energy is concerned, the study only reveals a significant difference between the varieties whatever the maturity level is. The Galmi Violet variety stands out with an average activation energy of 66.71 ± 0.12 KJ&sdot;mol&minus;1 K&minus;1 for the maturity level below 80% and 58.74 ± 0.11 KJ&sdot;mol&minus;1 for the maturity level above 85%. For the three remaining varieties, the average activation energy ranges from 58.15 ± 0.19 to 59.12 ± 0.13 KJ&sdot;mol&minus;1 for a maturity level less than 80% whereas the rates go from 47.63 ± 0.28 to 49.96 ± 0.77 KJ&sdot;mol&minus;1 when the maturity level is greater than 85%. In summary, the higher the maturity level is, the lower the effective diffusivity coefficients will be. The same tendency was observed with the activation energy. The Galmi Violet variety represents the limitative one in case of the drying of the four varieties mix together.

Study on Thin Layer Drying of <i>Rosa laevigata</i>Michx

The drying process of traditional Chinese medicine Rosa laevigata Michx was investigated in a laboratory scale dryer. Drying experiments were conducted at five temperatures of 40℃, 50℃, 60℃, 70℃ and 80℃. The experimental data were fitted to ten different thin layer drying models to select a suitable model for describing the drying process of Rosa laevigata Michx fruits. The results showed that the Midilli model had the highest value of R2 (0.999767), the lowest χ2 (0.000034) and RMSE (0.003616) among the ten models considered. The drying process of Rosa laevigata Michx fruits consisted of 1st falling rate period and 2nd falling rate period. The effective moisture diffusivity was found in the range of 1.49 - 30.20 × 10-11 m2·s-1. The value of activation energy obtained by plotting lnD versus 1/T is about 36 kJ·mol-1.