• Experimental drying kinetics of mango slices (Mangifera indica L.) Amelie under intermittent conditions
• Author  :  Tetang Fokone Abraham, Edoun Marcel, Kuitche Alexis and Zeghmati Belkacem
• Pages   :  203-211
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• Abstract

The drying kinetics of food is very important for the understanding of the drying process and for optimizing the drying conditions. This work is an experimental contribution to the study of drying kinetic of mango under intermittent drying mode. Drying was carried out in a convective dryer using three inlet air temperatures (40°C; 50°C and 60°C) with 200 g of mangoes slices having an initial moisture content of 80%. During the experiments, the duration of each cycle was 120 minutes, and the intermittent mode was conducted with 60 minutes at the desired temperature and 60 minutes at the ambient temperature. The results showed that for a variation in the air drying temperature of 20°C, the drying process at 60°C ended at 90 minutes before the same operations at 40°C on an intermittent mode. Also, when the samples are stored inside the drying chamber during the tempered periods, the moisture content was almost constant, but if they are outside the drying chamber, they undergo a rehydration as soon as their moisture content is lower than 65%. Moreover, the results show that the intermittency period no longer has influence on the drying kinetics, when the moisture content of samples approaches 18 %, independently of the drying air temperature.

Keywords: Heat flow, mango, intermittent mode, convective drying.

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.6, No.3 (Sept-2016)