Experimental Study and Mathematical Modeling on Thin Layer Microwave Drying of Zucchini (C. pepo) Slices

Year 2016, Volume: 12 Issue: 3, 347 - 353, 26.12.2016

Hakan Yoğurtçu

Abstract

In
this study, drying behavior of zucchini (C.
pepo) that is a species of Cucurbitaceae
family was investigated in microwave oven. Zucchini slices with 3, 6 and 8 mm
thick were dried at different microwave output powers (90, 180, 360, 600 W at
2450 MHz frequency) by using domestic microwave oven and monitored pairs of
drying time and zucchini mass. It was observed that drying rate of zucchini
slices increased with increasing of the microwave output power. On the other
hand the drying time for the final moisture contents of zucchini slices
increased with increasing of the thick of them. Ten thin layer drying models,
available in the literature, were used to evaluate the experimental data. It
was observed that Weibull Distribution and Midilli et al. models among the
models used are the best mathematical models represented the microwave drying
behavior of zucchini slices.

Keywords

Mathematical modeling, microwave drying, zucchini slices

References

• Yagcioglu, A.; Degirmencioglu, A.; Cagatay, F. Proceedings of the 7th international congress on agricultural mecha-nization and energy, Adana, Turkey, 26–27 May 1999