A Determination of Thin Layer Drying Kinetics of Button Mushroom when Dried through an Infrared Applied Drying Method

One of the new techniques applied in the drying process of food stuffs that can increase the drying rate, enhanced the product quality, and while decresing the costs of processing is an application of infrared radiational energy. In this study the thin layer drying process of button mushroom was modeled through an infrared applied drying method. Drying experiments with sliced samples of button mushroom were conducted at three radiation intensities of 0.22, 0.31 and 0.49 W cm-2 along with three inlet air velocities of 0.5, 0.7 and 1 m/s. During the drying process, weights of the samples were determined for a calculation of sample moisture contents. Drying curves were obtained using the experimental data with the standard models being then fitted to them. Fitted models were evaluated through an application of three parameters of coefficient of determination (R2), Chi-square (?2), as well as Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The selected models were determined as Lewis, Page, Henderson & Pabis, Logarithmic, Logistic, Modified Page, Dual term, Second order, and Diffusivity. All the models led to proper results, but in total, the Logistic, with the biggest R2 and the smallest? 2 along with RMSE (0.997, 0.0022 and 0.0049, respectively), ended up with the most appropriate results, and showed good agreement with the experimental data.