JOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION, cilt.38, sa.6, ss.2232-2239, 2014 (SCI-Expanded)
The effect of different infrared power levels on drying kinetics of peach slices was investigated. The peach slices dried at 83, 125, 167 and 209W infrared power levels and constant slice thickness of 0.5cm. It was observed that drying characteristics of peach slices were greatly influenced by infrared power. To select the most appropriate thin-layer drying model for drying treatments, 15 mathematical drying models were fitted to the experimental data. Midilli etal. model satisfactorily described the drying kinetics of peach slices. Effective moisture diffusivity ranged from 1.68x10(-10) to 1.68x10(-9)m(2)/s and calculated using the Fick's second law. Activation energy was estimated by a modified Arrhenius-type equation as 4.49kW/kg.