Two-dimensional Finite Element Modelling of Green Peas Drying in a Hot Air-Infrared Dryer

In this paper, the simulation of green peas drying process in a hot air-Infrared dryer was carried out using two- dimensional finite element method. For this purpose, the mass transfer governing equation with initial and boundary conditions were derived. The system of first order differential equations were developed by using finite element method with Galerkin approach. To simulate drying process and solve the differential equations, a Matlab program code was developed. The drying simulation process was performed with combinations of four infrared power densities (0, 2000, 4000, and 6000 W.m-2), three levels of drying air temperatures (30, 40, and 50 ℃) and three levels of drying air flow rate (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m.s-1). Finally, in order to validate the developed model, the simulation results were compared with experimental data resulted by a hot air-Infrared dryer. The minimum, maximum and average relative errors between experimental and predicted data by finite element method simulation were 2.21%, 3.77%, and 2.50%, respectively. The model has reasonable accuracy and high efficiency for predicting the moisture content variation of green peas during drying process and can provide more information on the moisture transfer without running any experiments, so that it can be useful for designing dryers.