Potato thin layer convective dehydration model and energy efficiency estimation

Abstract

The dehydration parameters (temperature, thickness, and mass load) statistically significantly (p<0.05) affect the thin-layer convective dehydration of potato slices. The slices with thicknesses of 3, 5, and 8 mm were dehydrated as monolayers at different temperatures (30, 50, and 70 °C) and mass load (1.00, 0.63, and 0.38 kg m-2). The results showed that the shortest dehydration time (183 minutes), the smallest energy consumption (0.176 kWh), and the smallest emission of carbon dioxide (0.17 kg) had the dehydration model of potato slices with a 3 mm thickness, 0.38 kg m-2 mass load, dehydrated on the temperature of 70 °C. Dehydration of potato slices of 8 mm slice thickness dehydrated at 70 °C, with 0.38 kg m-2 mass load, showed the highest resistance to mass transfer (the maximum effective moisture diffusivity 2.3761 × 10-7 ± 4.45646 × 10-9 m2 s-1) and the minimum activation energy (27.02 kJ mol-1). Data obtained from these mathematical models could predict and optimize the thin layer dehydration of potato slices, with a dominant influence of temperature and potato slice thickness parameters as variables.