Foods (Sep 2022)

Semi-Empirical Mathematical Modeling, Energy and Exergy Analysis, and Textural Characteristics of Convectively Dried Plantain Banana Slices

  • Meenatai G. Kamble,
  • Anurag Singh,
  • Navneet Kumar,
  • Rohini V. Dhenge,
  • Massimiliano Rinaldi,
  • Ajay V. Chinchkar

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11182825
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 18
p. 2825

Abstract

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Thin-layer convective drying of plantain banana was performed at four different temperatures from 50 to 80 °C, with slice thicknesses from 2 to 8 mm. The drying curves, fitted to seven different semi-empirical mathematical models, were successfully used to fit experimental data (R2 0.72–0.99). The diffusion approach had better applicability in envisaging the moisture ratio at any time during the drying process, with the maximum correlation value (R2 0.99) and minimum value of x2 (2.5×10−5 to 1.5×10−4) and RMSE (5.0 ×10−3 to 1.2×10−2). The Deff, hm, and Ea values were calculated on the basis of the experimental data, and overall ranged from 1.11×10−10 to 1.79×10−9 m2 s−1, 3.17×10−8 to 2.20 ×10−7 m s−1 and 13.70 to 18.23 kJ mol−1, respectively. The process energy consumption varied from 23.3 to 121.4 kWh kg−1. The correlation study showed that the drying temperature had a close correlation with hm value and sample hardness. A significant (p < 0.05) increase in hardness of dried plantain banana was observed at 80 °C compared to the other temperatures. Additionally, the sample hardness and process energy consumption were more positively correlated with the thickness of the samples.

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