Determination of some drying parameters of carrot dried using microwave method

Abstract

In this study, moisture content, drying time, the diffusion coefficient, activation energy, drying rate, drying efficiency and the energy consumed during the drying of carrot were determined by using the designed microwave supported conveyor drier. In the experiments, the carrot slices of 4 mm, 7 mm and 10 mm thickness were dried at a power of 1050 W, 1500 W and 2100 W microwave power. The conveyor drier has the conveyor speed of 0.245 m min-1 for drying process. At the end of drying process, it was found that the effective diffusivity coefficients, energy consumption, drying rate and drying efficiency have increased as the microwave power increased. We concluded that 1050 W is the optimum value for carrot drying in terms of drying time and energy consumption.