Drying models for green peas

A fixed or moving boundary problem was considered for the drying of green peas. The first model was solved by separation of variables, assuming that sample size and geometry remain constant during the process. For the second model, a finite difference method was used. Using experimental data from experiments carried out at different air-drying temperatures (40, 60 and 80 °C), two different expressions, of Arrhenius type, for the effective diffusivity dependence on the air temperature were obtained. Throughout these expressions, it was possible to simulate the drying kinetics of green peas at temperatures (50, 70 and 90 °C) different from those used to obtain the models. The second model was found to be more precise (percentage of explained variance > 99.8%) than the first one (>98.4%).