THIN-LAYER DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF CASTOR (RICINUS COMMUNIS) SEEDS

Ojediran, J. O. and ABDULGANIY, O. RAJI (2011) THIN-LAYER DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF CASTOR (RICINUS COMMUNIS) SEEDS. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. pp. 1-9. ISSN 1745-4549

Text A Model for Implementing Mobile Banking in Developing.pdf Download (261kB)

Abstract

The thin-layer drying behavior of gray small size and white big size varieties of castor seeds dried at 40, 50, 60 and 70C in a laboratory model tray dryer fitted with a temperature control system was investigated. Temperature was found to affect the drying characteristics with samples dried at higher temperature attaining equilibrium moisture content faster. Fromthe five thin-layer drying equations fitted to the drying data, the modified Pagemodel gave the best fit with highest correlation coefficients of 0.999, 0.990–0.999 and the least root mean square error of 0.010–0.013, 0.011–0.038, respectively, for the two varieties. The effective diffusivity coefficient of moisture transfer varied, respectively, from 8.24 ¥ 10-9–1.81 ¥ 10-8m2/s and 3.72 ¥ 10-8–7.62 ¥ 10-8m2/s, which are within the range for food materials. The activation energies are, respectively, 21.47 kJ/mol and 18.03 kJ/mol. This indicates that the diffusion process requires lower energy hence ease of drying of the castor seeds.

Actions (login required)

View Item