Drying Kinetics and Thermodynamic Analysis of Tomato in a Tunnel Dryer

Journal article

Apolinar Picado, Steve Alfaro, Rafael Gamero
Nexo Revista Científica, vol. 34(3), 2021 Jun 30, pp. 31-45

Cite

APA Click to copy
Picado, A., Alfaro, S., & Gamero, R. (2021). Drying Kinetics and Thermodynamic Analysis of Tomato in a Tunnel Dryer. Nexo Revista Científica, 34(3), 31–45. https://doi.org/10.5377/nexo.v34i03.11859

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Picado, Apolinar, Steve Alfaro, and Rafael Gamero. “Drying Kinetics and Thermodynamic Analysis of Tomato in a Tunnel Dryer.” Nexo Revista Científica 34, no. 3 (June 30, 2021): 31–45.

MLA Click to copy
Picado, Apolinar, et al. “Drying Kinetics and Thermodynamic Analysis of Tomato in a Tunnel Dryer.” Nexo Revista Científica, vol. 34, no. 3, June 2021, pp. 31–45, doi:10.5377/nexo.v34i03.11859.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{apolinar2021a,
  title = {Drying Kinetics and Thermodynamic Analysis of Tomato in a Tunnel Dryer},
  year = {2021},
  month = jun,
  day = {30},
  issue = {3},
  journal = {Nexo Revista Científica},
  pages = {31-45},
  volume = {34},
  doi = {10.5377/nexo.v34i03.11859},
  author = {Picado, Apolinar and Alfaro, Steve and Gamero, Rafael},
  month_numeric = {6}
}

In this study, drying kinetics and thermodynamic analysis of tomato were conducted in a tunnel dryer. Drying experiments were carried-out at three temperatures (100, 115, and 130 °C) and at an air velocity of 1.45 m/s. From the drying curves, only a falling rate period was observed. Under these conditions, a characteristic drying curve was determined. It is observed that at 40 minutes of the drying process, the outlet gas enthalpy achieved a maximum value that is very close to the inlet value and remained constant until the end of the process. Entropy exhibited similar behaviour to enthalpy. The maximum value of the exergy efficiency curve corresponds to the maximum value observed within the drying rate curves. This maximum value represents the stage when the available energy is efficiently used in moisture removal. As the drying rate decreases the available energy is started to be less employed.