Mathematicl modelling of solar drying of tomato in thin layers [electronic resource].

Includes references.

The aim of this research is to develop and evaluate the solar drying method to dry tomato and improve tomato product quality. Also to study the behavior of tomato drying rate compared with some drying mathematical models. The solar dryer is used to dry tomato under different levels of air velocity (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 m/sec) and three different slices thickness (3, 4, 5 mm). The solar dryer performance is determined by studying the effect of the mentioned studied variables on air specifications and product quality. The maximum temperature recorded inside the dryer chamber was 56°C during the corresponding ambient temperature and relative humidity were 34°C and 30.8%, with 3mm thickness and 0.5 m/s air velocity, respectively. During the test period, the experimental results revealed that the reduction in tomatoes moisture content from 91.78 to 3.463203% was obtained using drying air velocity of 1 m/s and slices thickness of 5 mm. The modified Henderson and Pabis's model is the most proper model to describe the drying behavior of tomato slices.

Summary in Arabic.

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