Drying and Rehydration Behaviors of Green Bell Peppers

In this study, the drying behaviors of green bell peppers were examined in convection dryer. The study was carried out for 3 drying temperatures (55, 65, and 75 degrees C) and for pre-treated samples with ethyl oleate solution against control samples. The pre-treated samples dried faster than the control ones. Drying time decreased with an increase of drying temperature. Rehydration ratio of the pre-treated samples was higher than control samples. Moisture transfer from green bell peppers was described by applying the Fick's diffusion model and the effective moisture diffusivity (D-eff) was calculated. The D-eff values for pre-treated and control samples varied between 0.705 and 2.618x10(-9) m(2)/sec. Activation energy values for moisture diffusion ranged from 41.67 and 52.99 kJ/mol. Drying data was fitted to 4 thin-layer drying models, namely, Lewis, Henderson and Pabis, logarithmic, and Page. The best model, which best represented the green bell peppers drying, was logarithmic.