Author/Authors :
sameh, s. kishk suez canal university - fac. of agric. - agric. eng. dep., Ismailia, Egypt , solaf, s. abd el-reheem agricultural engineering research institute (aenri), Giza, Egypt , ramadan, a. elgamal suez canal university - fac. of agric. - agric. eng. dep., Ismailia, Egypt
Abstract :
Mint plant was dried using greenhouse solar dryer. Two of the forced convection operating modes (continuous and intervals) were used and compared with the open sun drying method. The drying kinetics of mint (Mentha spicata L.) in terms of moisture content, moisture ratio, drying time and drying rate was investigated. The continuous forced convection mode gives the highest drying rate for mint than the interval mode and open sun drying. The drying data of solar and open sun drying of mint were fitted to ten thin layer drying models and the Modified Henderson and Pabis model satisfactorily described the drying behavior of mint with highest R^2 (0.99) and lowest P and RMSE values than other models. The results of the study are very useful for commercial scale drying of mint to optimize the drying process and to achieve a superior quality dried product.
