Investigation of the variation of drying rate, effective diffusion coefficient, activation energy, and energy consumption for mushroom slices using microwave- vacuum drier

In this study، the impact of different drying conditions (4 levels of microwave power 130، 260، 380 and 450 watts and 4 absolute pressure levels 200، 400، 600 and 800 mbar) on drying rate، effective diffusion coefficient، activation energy، and energy consumption of a microwave–vacuum drier for drying the mushroom slices were analyzed. According to the findings، effective diffusion coefficient for mushroom varied between 3. 21×10-9 to 20. 005×10-9 m2/s. In addition، the activation energy based on an Arrhenius based exponential equation was very close to each other for three different methods. In terms of energy consumption، the minimum and maximum quantities were about 0. 168 and 0. 48 kWh، respectively.