DRYING OF MINT LEAVES UNDER CONTROLLED DRYING AIR TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY. | ||||
| Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering | ||||
| Article 13, Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2016, Page 213-220 PDF (699.68 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jssae.2016.39369 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
| A. Matouk1; M. El-Kholy2; M. Tharwat1; Marwa Sadat1 | ||||
| 1Agric Eng. Dept., Fac. of Agric., Mansoura Univ. | ||||
| 2Agric. Eng. Res. Institute. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| A study was carried out to test and evaluate the drying behavior of mint leaves using a laboratory scale dryer with controlled air temperature and relative humidity. The studied parameters included four different levels of drying air temperature (50, 55, 60 and 65°C) and four levels of air relative humidity (25, 30, 35 and 40%). All the experimental runs were conducted at constant air velocity of (0.23 m/sec). The drying behavior of mint leaves during the drying process were simulated using three different thin layer drying models (Lewis's 1921, Henderson and Pabis's 1961 and Page 1949 equations). Final quality of the dried mint leaves was also determined. The results show that, drying rate of mint leaves increased with the increase of drying air temperature while, it was decreased with the increase of relative humidity. All studied models could describe the drying behavior of mint leaves satisfactorily. However, Page's model considered the most proper for describing the drying behavior of mint leaves in terms of higher values of (R2) and lower values of (2), (MBE), (RMSE) and (SE). In general, the drying air temperature of 50°C and relative humidity of 25% achieved the best quality of the dried mint leaves in terms of total chlorophyll, total carotenoids and essential oil contents. | ||||
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