Moisture Transport Mechanism and Drying Kinetic of Fresh Harvested Red Onion Bulbs under Dehumidified Air

Drying plays an important role in post-harvest handling of onion for prolonging storage time. This research focuses on the drying studies of red onion bulbs using dehumidified air. The works were carried out by observing the microscopic structure of red onion bulbs layer and followed by developing mass transfer model for moisture diffusion during drying. Moisture diffusivity was estimated from drying experiments conducted at various temperatures (40, 50 and 60 degrees C) using the unsteady state solutions of Fick's second law model. The diffusivity values were used to predict the drying kinetics as well as effective drying time for different air relative humidity. Results showed that combination of low relative humidity and low drying temperature significantly improved drying rate and reduced drying time.