The Investigation of Oven and Vacuum Oven Drying Kinetics and Mathematical Modelling of Golden Berries

Abstract

Golden berry (Physalis peruviana) is a fruit that is natively cultivated in the Andean region. Due to its significant nutritional and functional properties, golden berry has been gradually attracting worldwide attention. In this study, oven and vacuum oven drying of golden berries were performed at 60, 70 and 80 °C. Throughout the experiments, the drying kinetic parameters of effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) and activation energy (Ea) were investigated. Moreover, mathematical modeling of drying data was established with the most known modeling equations presented in literature. Experiments revealed that the drying times decreased with increasing temperature and with vacuum addition. The highest and lowest drying times were encountered as 480 minutes in oven drying at 60 °C, and 195 minutes in vacuum oven drying at 80 °C, respectively. Deff values were calculated between 1.95×10-10-3.80×10-10 m2/s and 2.20×10-10-5.45×10-10 m2/s for oven and vacuum oven drying, respectively. Ea values, on the other hand, were found as 32.81 kJ/mol for oven drying and 44.30 kJ/mol for vacuum oven drying. Among the fourteen mathematical models applied to drying curve data, Midilli & Kucuk model provided the best fit for both oven and vacuum oven drying.