ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC DRYING OF FRUITS: EFFECT OF MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
Date
2022-08-30
Authors
Paul, Anjaly
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Abstract
Electrohydrodynamic drying is a novel nonthermal drying technique with simple equipment design, low operational costs, and relatively low energy consumption. This study investigated the effect of material properties and environmental conditions on the EHD drying of fruits. Considering Atlantic Canada's production volume and market demand, an experimental study was carried out using apples and strawberries. The experiments showed that the drying flux and effective diffusivity were independent of the thickness and the drying flux was significantly reduced at higher humidity. Further, the effective diffusivity increased with an increase in external airflow. The specific energy consumption increased with reducing load density and was significantly smaller than hot air drying. In addition, the impact of EHD drying conditions on the quality of apple slices was insignificant in the range of experimental design, but significantly better than in hot air drying.
Description
The effect of slice thickness, load density, external airflow, and relative humidity on EHD drying of fruits was evaluated through multifactorial experiments. The drying efficiency and quality of EHD dried apples were compared to hot air-dried ones. It was concluded that EHD is effective in drying thin fruit slices with low energy consumption and superior quality.
Keywords
Electrohydrodynamic drying, Apples, Strawberries, Quality, Drying efficiency