Modeling of the Drying Kinetics of Two Extreme Parts of the Pulp of Gamboma Yam (<i>Dioscorea cayenensis</i>): Yellow Part (Head) and White Part (Tail)

The study on the modelling of the drying kinetics of two extreme parts of the Gamboma yam pulp, the yellow part (head) and the white part (tail), was carried out to evaluate the behaviour of these two parts during drying. This evaluation was carried out in the oven at 70?C and in the microwave at 280 W. The main aim of this work was to study experimentally while modelling the drying kinetics of the food and at the same time to evaluate the influence of temperature on two parts (head and tail) of the Gamboma yam. The effect of temperature on the food revealed the following results: a progressive decrease of the water content during the drying process in both the oven and the microwave. This experiment showed that during the drying of the two parts in the oven and in the microwave, the loss in mass evolves from the tail (white part) to the head (yellow part), because the white part is the youngest in terms of formation and the head, the oldest part in terms of formation. In the microwave and at 280 W, the drying of the yam is faster than in the oven at 70?C. During the modelling, four different mathematical drying models were used, namely Newton’s, Page’s, Henderson and Pabis’ and finally Midili’s, to assess the goodness of fit on the drying of the product while comparing their respective parameters R2, χ2 and RMSE. The comparison of the statistical parameters led to the selection of the Midili model as the one with better goodness of fit and better drying characteristics so as to obtain more expressive drying curves in contrast to other models.