However, the behavior of each plant material is different. In general, drying leads to reduction in all studied parameters. The quality parameters under study include color, bulk density, porosity, shrinkage, phytochemicals, antioxidant capacity, sugars, proteins, volatile compounds, and sensory attributes. This review reports the weaknesses of common drying methods applied for fruits, vegetables, and aromatic herbs and the possible options to improve the quality of dried products using different drying techniques or their combination. The quality of dehydrated fruits, vegetables, and aromatic herbs is a key problem closely related to the development and optimization of novel drying techniques. During this process, the heat and mass transfer occurs simultaneously. Drying involves the application of energy in order to vaporize and mobilize the moisture content within the porous products. This results in cheaper transportation and increments the product shelf life, limiting the food waste. The relationship between the drying rate constant and effective moisture diffusivity was also estimated and gave a linear relationship.ĭrying is known as the best method to preserve fruits, vegetables, and herbs, decreasing not only the raw material volume but also its weight.
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The activation energy was calculated using an exponential expression based on Arrhenius equation. By increasing the microwave output powers and decreasing the sample amounts, the effective moisture diffusivity values ranged from 3.982×10−11 to 2.073×10−10m2s−1 and from 9.253×10−11 to 3.162×10−11m2s−1, respectively. model gave a better fit for all drying conditions applied. Among of the models proposed, the semi-empirical Midilli et al.
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To determine the kinetic parameters, the drying data were fitted to various models based on the ratios of the differences between the initial and final moisture contents and equilibrium moisture content versus drying time.
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By increasing the microwave output powers (180–900W) and the sample amounts (25–100g), the drying time decreased from 12.50 to 3.0min and increased from 6.60 to 16min, respectively. The effect of microwave drying technique on moisture content, moisture ratio, drying rate, drying time and effective moisture diffusivity of mint leaves (Mentha spicata L.) were investigated.