Mathematical modeling of thin-layer garlic with hot air dryer and under vacuum

Garlic( Allium Satirum L) is one of the most important agricultural products in Iran and one of the major sources of foreign exchange for the country. Due to the high waste in this product to maintain, increase shelf life, and keep its quality, it is necessary to use appropriate storage methods such as drying. In this study, a thin layer of garlic slices was dried at 50, 60, 70 ° C, and in two types of dryers (vacuum and hot air). The most suitable model was developed to describe the drying kinetics of garlic flakes as a thin layer in the temperature range and type of dryer used. Effective moisture penetration coefficient, amount of activation energy, shrinkage, water reabsorption of garlic samples were measured during the drying process. in the present study, by examining 9 different experimental models and calculating the statistical criteria of R2, RMSE, x2 between the experimental data and the results predicted by each model, the most appropriate model describing the drying kinetics of garlic thin slices was the Page model. The results showed that the effective diffusion coefficient of garlic leaf moisture for different temperatures and in two types of dryers was in the range of  1.5* 10-9 to 6.6 * 10 -9 m2/s. Changes in the moisture diffusion coefficient were described as a function of drying air temperature with Arrhenius and the amount of activation energy was calculated between 14.673 and 53.175 kJ / mol. The results also showed that the shrinkage of the product was not dependent on air temperature and the type of dryer and the water re-absorption capacity of garlic samples increased slightly by decreasing their moisture content.