4.2 Article

Modelling drying kinetics of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.): Theoretical and empirical models, and neural networks

Journal

FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
Volume 20, Issue 1, Pages 13-22

Publisher

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1082013212469614

Keywords

drying; kinetics; thyme; neural networks

Funding

  1. 'Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia' in Spain, CONSOLIDER INGENIO [CSD2007-00016]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The drying kinetics of thyme was analyzed by considering different conditions: air temperature of between 40? and 70?, and air velocity of 1m/s. A theoretical diffusion model and eight different empirical models were fitted to the experimental data. From the theoretical model application, the effective diffusivity per unit area of the thyme was estimated (between 3.68 x 10(-5) and 2.12 x 10 (-4)s(-1)). The temperature dependence of the effective diffusivity was described by the Arrhenius relationship with activation energy of 49.42kJ/mol. Eight different empirical models were fitted to the experimental data. Additionally, the dependence of the parameters of each model on the drying temperature was determined, obtaining equations that allow estimating the evolution of the moisture content at any temperature in the established range. Furthermore, artificial neural networks were developed and compared with the theoretical and empirical models using the percentage of the relative errors and the explained variance. The artificial neural networks were found to be more accurate predictors of moisture evolution with VAR99.3% and ER8.7%.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.2
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available