Investigation of Black Mulberry Drying Kinetics Applying Different Pretreatments

Common drying systems, including hot air convection, infrared, vacuum and IR-convective were employed to investigate and analyze the drying process of mulberry fruits. To evaluate the effect of pretreatment on the drying phenomenon, samples were pretreated by being subjected to: microwaves, chemical preparation, mechanical as well as blanching approaches. Results revealed that the microwave pretreatment, integrated with IR-convective dryer required the lowest time needed for drying mulberries. Furthermore, the experimental data were fitted to semi empirical as well as theoretical models to achieve the most suitable function governing mulberry drying process. Eventually, Page Model proved to perform best with regard to its high coefficient of determination, low value of χ2 and root mean square of error.