Drying kinetics of apple slices in a water-based solar dryer equipped with a parabolic trough collector

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Authors

1 Department of Biosystems Engineering, Mohaghegh Ardabili University

2 Department of Biosystem Engineering, Sari University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

3 Department of Biosystem Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University

Abstract

The Refractance window dryers are a new generation of dryers with high quality of dried products. The drying process in these dryers, like other dryers, is an energy-intensive process. In this research, an attempt has been made to study the drying kinetics of apples inside a combined solar dryer. The combined dryer included a refractance window dryer and a parabolic trough collector. Experiments were carried out in three ways: conventional (RW), combined with solar energy (PRW) and completely solar energy (SRW). In the first two methods, tests were performed at three levels of temperature (65, 75 and 85°C), while in the third method, the drying temperature was directly dependent on the temperature of the solar collector. The drying time was 140-320 min in the first method, 160-260 in the second method, and 240 min in the third method. Among the investigated models, Midili model was more accurate than other models due to having higher R2 and lower SSE and RMSE. The lowest and highest effective moisture diffusivity coefficient obtained in the experiments were obtained in RW-65 and RW-85 methods as 8.93×10-13 and 4.82×10-12 respectively. Also, the value of the effective moisture diffusivity coefficient in the SRW solar method was found to be 1.74×10-12.

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Journal of Agricultural Mechanization

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 22 June 2025

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History

  • Receive Date: 16 November 2024
  • Revise Date: 09 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 12 April 2025

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