Study of the drying kinetic by hot air of waste from tomato processing industry

Abstract

Seed and peel drying by hot air was made at 50, 60, and 70ºC by a tray dryer at lab scale with discontinuous operation. Two models were employed for describing the drying kinetic: a phenomenological model based on Fick's law and an empirical model corresponding to the Peleg's model. So much in the drying of the seeds like in that of the peels, only one diffusive period was observed in the range of the investigated temperatures. It was showed that the external resistance to the mass transfer was negligible to the work condititions. Both diffusive and Peleg models were adequate for describing the drying kinetic of tomato peel and seed.