Modeling of drying kinetics of ripe plantain (Musa paradisiaca) chips in a forced convection tunnel

Modelización de la cinética de secado de astillas de plátano maduro (Musa paradisiaca) en un túnel de convección forzada

Abstract

In this work the mathematical modeling of the drying process of plantain (Musa paradisiaca), with hot air in a tunnel under forced flow conditions is presented. The temperature of air was 60 °C at a velocity of 3.0 m/s. The geometric form of the product cuts was considered: round slices of 4.0 cm of diameter and 1.5 mm of thickness. The drying time for the slices was 300 min. The numerical model obtained for the kinetics of drying was the logarithmic one. Organoleptic properties were used to evaluate the quality of the productor final.