ThammasatInt. J. Sc.Tech..Vol. I l. No. l.

Januarv-March
2006

A Mathematical Modeling
Study of Hot Air Drying for Some
Agricultural Products
Jompob Waewsak
RenewableEnergySystemResearchand Demonstration Center(RESRDeC)
Departmentof Physics,Facultyof Science,ThaksinUniversity,Phatthalung,
93 I 10,Thailand
Sirinuch Chindaruksa
GraduateStudent,Departmentof Physics,Facultyof Science,
NaresuanUniversityPhitsanulok,65000,Thailand
ChantanaPunlek
Departmentof Physics,Facultyof Science,NaresuanUniversity,
Phitsanulok,65000,Thailand

Abstract
The aim of this paperis to investigatethe applicabilityof simplified mathematicaldrying models
from the researchworks proposedby severalinvestigatorsto the drying of someagriculturalproducts.
Drying experimentswere conductedusing a conventionalbiomasslongandryer at drying air velocity
1.34m/s and drying air temperature80oCfor red chili peppers,70"C for lemongrassand 60"C for leech
lime leaves.Drying curuesobtainedfrom the experimentaldatawere then fitted to the empiricaldrying
models.Thirleendifferentmathematicaldrying modelswere comparedaccordingto their coefficientsof
comelationin orderto estimatethe drying curvesof thoseproducts.The resultshave shownthat among
the models,the Midilli et al. modelwas found to be the bestmodel for describingthe drying behaviorof
red chili peppersand leechlime leaves,whereasthe Wanghand Singhmodel was the most suitablefor
lemongrass.

Keywords: AgriculturalProducts,Drying, Energy,FoodEngineeringandMoistureRatio

l. Introduction requirements, insect infestation and the

Drying processesplay an importantrole in
the preservationof agricultural products. they
are definedas a processof moistureremovaldue
to simultaneous heatand masstransfer|]. The
most impoftant reasons for the popularity of
dried products are longer shelf-life, product
diversity as well as substantial volume
reduction.This could be expandedfurther with
improvementsin product quality and process
applications.The application of dryers in
developingcountries,especiallyin Thailand,
reduce losses and significantly improve the
quality of the dried product when comparedto
the traditionalmeansof drying suchas open sun
drying. Not only that, open sun drying is not
always suited to large-scaleproduction due to
the lack of ability to control the drying
conditionsproperly, the longer drying time, the
uncertaintiesof ambient conditions. larse area
contamination of dust [2]. Consequently,studies
basedon simulationmodels are neededfor the
design and operation of dryers. Hence, the
drying characteristics of specific products
should be determined.Furlhermore.simulation
modelsare alsousefulin improvingthe existing
drying system.The drying kinetics ol rnaterials
may be describedusing the transpoftproperties
such as thermal conductivity, thermal
diffusivity, moisture diffusivity as well as
interfaceheatand masstransfercoetficients[2].
The investigation of the drying behaviorof
different agriculturalproductshas recentlybeen
carriedout by severalinvestigators,for example,
greenpeppers[3], onions[4], red peppers[5-7],
rough rice [8], bananas[9], mushrooms|0],
potatosI l], grapes[12] and pistachios[3]. All
the mentioned agricultural products have the
samemannerof drying characteristics which are

t4

Int. J. Sc.Tech.,Vol. 11,No. l, January-March
Thammasat
describedby the law ofexponents.According to
the meal habits of Thai people, some of the
vegetablesare dried during the peak seasonof
harvestingand supplied for consuming during
off-season.Red chili peppers,leech lime leaves
and lemon grassare the best examplesof these
kinds of vegetables. They are traditionally
consumedin differentkinds of meals.
The objective of this work is to study the
applicability of severalsimplified mathematical
models selectedfrom the literatureto the drying
of red chili peppers,lemon grassand leech lime
leaves and to fit drying data into the most
suitable models by appropriate regression
analysisin order to investigatethe best model
for describingthe drying characteristicof some
of the agriculturalproductsthat are mentioned
above.
2. Experimental Setup and a recorded. The positions of the temperature
Mathematical Modeling Study
2.1 Experimental Setup
The drying experiments were carried out
using a biomasslongan dryer which consistsof
a blower, a combustion chamber, a drying
chamberand a ducting systemwith air recycling
as shown in Fig. L The drying chamber was
constructedfrom steel sheet as a rectangular
dryer of 1.2 m length, \.2 m width and I m
height. The Longan dryer is operatedby wood
fuel combustionfor hot air drying. Hot air is fed
into the drying chamber for the drying process
via the blower. A type K thermocouplewas used
to measurethe temperatureat various points of
the dryer and connected to a 20-channel data
logger (YOKOKAWA model HR 1300 Hybrid
Recorder). with readingaccuracyof ' 0. loC.The
air mass flow rate of air could be calculated
from the velociry ofair passingthroughthe duct
system,which is measuredby an air velocity
meter (TSI incorporationmodel 8345 hotwire
type). The moisture contents of red chili
peppers,lemon grassand leechlime leaveswere
recordedeachhour during the drying processfor
the determination of drying curves by a digital
balance(SARTORIUS MCI analyticmodel AC
2l0s), with readingaccuracyof +0.00001g. The
samesampleof eachproductwas broughtout of
the drying chamber for weight measurements.
From the literature survey, it was found that a
suitable drying air temperaturefor the drying of
chilis. lemon srassand leechlime leaveswas in
t5
2006
"C. In addition,the drying air
the rangeof 60-80
temperaturefor drying of chilis, lemon grassand
"C, 70 "C and 60
leechlime leavesshouldbe 80
"C respectively.Consequently,the drying air
was fixed to 80"C for red chili peppers.70"C for
lemon grass and 60"C for leech lime leaves
drying. The drying processwas continuedfrom
the initial moisturecontentof 250o/odb for red
chili peppers, 3l0o/o db for lemon grass and
165% db for leech lime leaves until the final
moisture content reached 13% db for red chili
peppersand l2o/odb for lemon grassand leech
lime leaves, which are the desired and
appropriatefinal moisturecontentas seenin the
market. During the experiments,the mass flow
rate of air was 0. 198 kg/s correspondingto a
drying air velocity of 1.34 m/s. The ambient
temperatureand inlet as well as the outlet air
temperatureof the drying chamber were also
and velocity measurements are shown in
Fig. L
2.2 AMathematical Modeling Study
Although the effects of drying air
temperature,initial and final moisture content,
relative humidity as well as velocity of drying
air on the drying constants,were investigatedby
many researchers!4-16], in this study these
parameters were not taken into account. The
main objective is to study the correlationship
between the moisture ratio (MR) and the drying
time at specificand optimum drying conditions,
which were surveyed from the literature
[7-18]. The MR is usually expressedas (M-
M")/(M"-M") where M is the moisture content
(o/" db), M. is an initial moisture content (% db)
and M" is an equilibrium moisture content.
However,it could be simplified to M/M" instead
of (M-M.)/(M"-M"), because the relative
humidity of the inlet drying air could not
controlled,whereasthe drying air velocity was
controlled. Furthermore, the equilibrium
moisture contentof agriculturalproductsis not
high. This effect was clearly presentedby the
natural sun drying process [2]. The recorded
moisture content of red chili peppers, lemon
grassand leech lime leavesin the experiments
were then used to plot drying curves.
Mathematicalmodeling of the drying behavior
of different agricultural products often requires
statisticalmethodsof regressionand correlation
 ThammasatInt. J. Sc. Tech..Vol. I l. No. 1. Januarv-March2006
analysis. Linear and non-linear regression
models are important tools to find the
relationshipsbetweendifferentvariables.In this
study, the relationshipsof the constantsof the
model were determined by a regression
techniqueusing an exponentialfunction which
is the most common mathematicalexpression
for describing drying characteristics.Drying
curveswere fitted to the experimentaldatausing
thirteen different moisture ratio equations as
expressedin Table I in order to identify the best
model. From Table 1, the constantparameters
are the following: e, b andc, whereasthe drying
constantsare k, g and h, respectively.These
parametersimprovethe quality of fit.
Air outlet
Recycleair duct
w w w &
Drying chamber
E E E I
Hot air inlet
Fig. I The configurationof a conventionalbiomasslongandryer.
l6
Several mathematical drying models
applied to drying curves as shown in Table I
were testedto selectthe bestmodel basedon the
quality of fit for describingthe drying curve of
the red chili peppers,lemon grassand leechlime
leaves by choosing the maximum correlation
coefficient from regression. The regression
analysis was performed using computer
software,namely, STATISTICA version 5.0.
Regressionwork was done basedon the Quasi-
Newton method.The correlationcoefficient (r)
is the major criterion for selecting the best
equation to describe the drying cun/e.
Air inlet Temperature
& Measurement
Velocity
r\
Measurement
Combustionchamber
Blower
Damper
 ThammasatInt. J. Sc. Tech.,Vol. I 1. No. l, January-March
2006
ThammasatInt. J. Sc.Tcch.,Vol I I , No. l, January-March2006

Table 1. Mathematical model of drying curves [1].

Model No Model Name Model Equation

I Newton MR - exp(-kr)
2 Page MR: exp(-fr1')
3 Modified Page MR: exp[(-ft0"]
4 Hendersonand Pabis MR - acxp(-ft1)
5 Logaritmic MR: aexp(-tl)+ c
o Two Tcrm MR - aexp(-lr) + bexp(-ftr)
7 Two Term Exponential MR - aexp(-tr) + (l - a)exp(-lr)
8 Wang and Singh MR- l+oftbf
9 Thompson I: aln(MR)+blln(MR)l:
l0 Diffusion Approximation MR - aexp(-ft| + (l - a)exp(-kbr)
lt Verma et al. MR = rzexp(-frr)
+ (l - a)exp(-gr)

I2 Modified Hendersonand Pabis MR : aexp(-frt)+ 6exp(-gr)+ cexp(-ht)

l3 Midilli et al. MR-aexp(-/r/')+bl

3. Results and Discussion [19] MR-aexp(-kt")+bt

The moisture contentof red chili peppers,
lemon grass and leech lime leaves during the
drying processwas obsenredin order to study the
behavior of drying. Since the migration of
moisture and the evaporationrate from product
surfacesto air decreasedwith decreasingof the
product moisture, the drying rate clearly
decreased.The drying time is shorter when the
temperatureis higher,which is explainedby the
increasein the drying rate.This increaseis due to
the increasedheat transfer potential betweenthc
air and the products, thus favoring the
evaporationof the water from the products.The
effect of temperatureon drying rate was well
presented in [20].
The changeof moisture ratio with drying
time of experimentsand regressionis shown in
Fig. 2, Fig. 3 andFig. 4 respectively.Featuresof
the drying curves are similar to other
agriculturalproducts,that is the moisture ratio
decreasedexponentially. The best model for
describingthe drying characteristicof red chili
peppers,lemon grassand leech lime leaveswas
selectedwhen the correlationcoefficient(r) was
the highestvalue.
The results reveal that the best
mathematicalmodel for red chili peppersand
leech lime leavesis Midilli et al. when r is
0.99998wherethe modelis the followine:
Where a: 0.999857
k - 0.t 17399
n: 1.045196
b - -0.003134
The best mathematicalmodel for lemon
grassis Wang and Singh model when r is about
0.99968wherethe model is the following:
MR-1+at+bt'
Where a - -0.266254
b:0.018578
modelfor leechlime
The bestmathematical
leavesis Midilli et al. when r is about 0.99991
and the constantparametersas well as drying
constantsare the following: 1.00188,
k : 0 . 2 8 4 2 9 2 .n : 0 . 8 3 9 2 4 8 a n d6 - - 0 . 0 3 4 2 1 4 .
The model performancecan be evaluatedby
the percentage of Root-Mean-Squareerror
(RMSE (%)) as expressedin terms of predicted
( p, ) and observed( o, ) valuesgiven by:
RMSE(%) =
The difference between the predicted and
observedvalue is a residual. In this paper the
RMSE (%) was investigatedand shown.RMSE

t1
 Thammasat
Int. J. Sc.Tech..Vol. I l. No. 1. Januarv-March
2006

(%) of the best models for these agricultural 1.0 l. 0.s9985

(J
productsare given in Table 2.
The predictedand observedvalue for chili G O.E
o 6c 0 6xttJ6<
peppers, leech lime leaves and lemon grass
"
drying were plotted and shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 5 o
i.)
and Fig. 7, respectively.It was fbund that the
difference betweenthe predictedand observed o '
lr
valuesare very low. This result is shown by the ,/.).,,,,'-'-"'u'"'"
0.2
RMSE (%). This meansthat the model has very 2l'-,,^,,,,
high performance for describing the 0.05.0.050178
0.0
characteristics
of drying culves.
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
ObscrvcdValuc
Table 2. RMSE (%) of chilis, lemon grassand
leechlime leavesmathematicalmodel. Fig.3 Plot of predicted and observed values for
Asricultural Product RMSE (%) red chili peppersdrying modeling.
chili 0.00078098
Lemon Grass 0.00444855 Drying air temperatureis 70"C and clrying air velocity is L34 m"s
Leech Lime Leaf 0.01
864375
1.4
4. Conclusion
t.2
According to the resultsof the mathematical
modeling of the drying of red chili peppers, 1.0
lemon grass and leech lime leaves, the best E o.s
model for describingthe drying characteristicof z.
red chili peppersand leechlime leavesis Midilli f,, o.o
z
et al., whereasWang and Singh model is the 0.4
most suitable for lemon grass. The results of
0.2
regressionanalysisindicatedthat these models
could be used to model the drying behavior
which is useful for simulationstudiesof drvins 2 4 6 8
systems. Time (hr)

Drying air temperatureis 80"C and drying air velocjty is L34 nts Fig.4 Variation of moisture ratio with drying
1.4 time for leechlime leafves
1.2
1.0
E o.s 1.0 1 . 0 0 .I ( x ) ( ) 1 9

o - -
& o.o 5 0.E
'7
0.4 0 .12. 0 181'7
0.6 0.51.0.53300
0.2 0)
O n /
0.0 0 . 2 b . 0 . 2 0 5 7 4/ \ u tq. u.t8o?4

20 o
li
A 0.2 0.t7.0.t6212
fime (hr)
0 . 0 70. . 0 7r-2r
0.0
Fig.2 Variation of moisture ratio with drying
time for red chili peppers. 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6
ObservedValue

Fig.5 Plot of predictedand observedvalues for

leechlime leavesdrvine modeline.

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 ThammasatInt. J. Sc.Tech..Vol. I l. No. l. Januarv-March
2006

t3l Yaldiz, O.and Ertekin, C., Thin Layer

Drying air tcmpcraturcis 60"C and drying air velocity is . 1.34 nls Solar Drying of SomeVegetables,Drying
1.4 T e c h n o l o g yV, o l .I 9 , p p . 5 8 3 - 5 9 62,0 0 1 .
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Pangavhane, D. R. and Singh, S. P., Drying
I
o Behaviorof BrinedOnion Slices.Joumalof
E o.s Food Engineering, Vol.40, pp.2l9-226,
t999.
& o.o
t5l Passami,V. and Saravia, L.,Relationship
0.4 Between a Solar Drying Model of Red
0.2 Pepper and the Kinetics of Pure Water
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0
N o . 5 ,p p . l 4 1 9- 1 4 3 2l.9 9 l .
2 1 6 6
t6l E. K. Akpinar,YasarBicer, Cingiz Yildiz,
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The authorswish to thank the Department [ l 2 1 M i d i l l i , A . . D e t e r m i n a t i o no f P i s t a c h i o
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 ThammasatInt. J. Sc. Tech..Vol. I l. No. l. Januarv-March2006
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