Heat and mass transfer analysis of convective drying of chickpea (Cicer arietinum)

Abstract

The objective of this article is to describe the modelling and simulation of the dehydration of chickpea in a complex drying system process, using COMSOL Multiphysics Program. A model, based on mass and energy balances, was developed for the simulation of unsteady convective drying with air (3.0 m/s and 60 °C). The program predicted an 8 hours-dehydration time, with an effective moisture diffusivity of 3.1 ∗10- 10 which was experimentally obtained. The empirical model that best represented the process was the exponential one.