Biosystems Engineering (2002) 81(1), 99}111

doi:10.1006/bioe.2001.0026, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

PH*Postharvest Technology

Modelling the Moisture and Temperature Distribution within an Agricultural

Product undergoing Time-varying Drying Schemes
K. J. Chua; S. K. Chou; M. N. A. Hawlader; A. S. Mujumdar; J. C. Ho
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10, Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260;
e-mail of corresponding author: mpechuae@nus.edu.sg

( Received 6 June 2000, accepted in revised form 3 April 2001, published online 20 December 2001)

A mechanistic model capable of predicting the moisture and temperature distribution of food materials during
isothermal and non-isothermal drying was developed. The model incorporates both liquid and vapour
migration as well as heat transfer in a food material. The model was solved numerically by the method of "nite
volume. Evaluation of the modelling predictions shows good agreement, for the mean moisture content,
between model and experimental data up to 7)4%. The calibrated model was used to study the e!ect of stepwise
varying of the drying air temperature on the internal product moisture and temperature distributions. The
product temperature distribution shows the existence of a thermal switch that changes the direction of the
thermal gradient for drying conducted with step-down varying of the inlet air temperature from 35 to 203C.
The impact of the moisture and temperature distributions on the product quality is also discussed.
 2002 Silsoe Research Institute

1. Introduction
The drying of moist porous solids is a complicated
process involving simultaneous coupled heat and mass
transfer phenomena. Accordingly, drying behaviour can
be in#uenced by a rather large variety of factors includ-
ing, for example, drying temperature, air velocity, and
relative humidity, and by solid properties such as density,
permeability and porosity. Extensive characterization of
drying behaviour using a strictly experimental approach
constitutes a formidable challenge due to the excessively
large number of variables that must be considered. It is,
therefore, necessary to develop a tool to simulate the
product drying behaviour and therefore allow one to
extend the results of experimental drying investigations.
In this way, the impact of many variables on drying
behaviour can be examined and interpreted without hav-
ing to resort to an extensive programme of experimental
testing. Also, with an in-depth understanding of heat and
mass transfer in food materials, better design and control
of processing and storage conditions become possible
(Hallstrom, 1990).
The mechanistic approach taken here represents the
recent development in drying modelling and theory. The
mathematical description of the drying process is derived
1537-5110/02/010099#13 $35.00/0
and maintained for the most general case of food mater-
ials. The model comprises a comprehensive set of funda-
mental heat and mass transfer mechanisms coupled with
thermodynamic phase equilibrium expressions.
As drying processes advance from simple constant
drying conditions to complex time-varying drying
schemes, the understanding of temperature and moisture
transfer in the product will help improve drying proced-
ures and food quality. The speci"c objectives of this
paper are (1) to formulate the governing equations and
boundary conditions for heat and mass transfer processes
between the drying air and the material during the con-
vective drying of a porous slab of biological food mater-
ial; (2) to solve the coupled equations numerically; (3) to
compare the numerical results with experimental data for
both constant and time-varying drying schemes; and
(4) to study the product temperature and moisture distri-
butions for stepwise change in the drying air temper-
ature.
2. Mathematical modelling
The drying of a porous bio-material represents a chal-
lenging class of problems involving several non-linear
99  2002 Silsoe Research Institute
100 K . J. C H U A E¹ A ¸ .

Notation

a coe$cient t time, s
a water activity ¹ temperature, K
U
A surface area, m *¹ temperature di!erence, K
b coe$cient ¹ saturation temperature, K
Q?R
c, c ,2, c constant term ¹ reaction temperature, K
 P 0
C ascorbic acid or non-enzymatic X local moisture content, kg [water] kg\
browning level, % [dry mass]
Cp speci"c heat of air, J kg\ K\ X mean moisture content, kg [water]
?TE
d semi-empirical parameters kg\ [dry mass]
e experimental value X equilibrium moisture content, kg
G C
E deviation modulus [water] kg\ [dry mass]
E energy of activation, J mol\ X monolayer moisture content, kg
 K
f constant term [water] kg\ [dry mass]
g mass #ux, kg m\ s\ X co-ordinate at centreline in the direc-
R
h heat of evaporation, J kg\ K\ tion of x co-ordinate, m
DE
h convective heat transfer coe$cient, > absolute air humidity, kg [water
?
W m\ K\ vapour] kg\ [dry air]
h convective mass transfer coe$cient, > co-ordinate at centreline in the direc-
K R
kg m\ s\ tion of y co-ordinate, m
H relative humidity, % x, y co-ordinates, m
0
k zero or "rst-order rate constant, min\ Z total number of samples compared
k constant rate value, min\ a relaxation factor for temperature "eld
M
K semi-empirical parameters b relaxation factor for pressure "eld
K liquid permeability, m U source term, J m\ s\
J
K vapour permeability, m j j thermal conductivity in X and > direc-
T V W
m mass, kg tions, respectively, W m\ K\
m material dry mass, kg o density, kg m\
B
M molar mass of water, kg mol\
U Subscripts
n time level
0 product surface
Nu Nusselt number
a air
p predicted value
G l liquid
P liquid suction pressure, Pa
p product
*P pressure di!erence, Pa
v vapour
P saturation vapour pressure, Pa
Q?R w water
Pr Prandtl number
E east
P vapour pressure of pure water, Pa
T N north
Re Reynolds number
P present
R universal gas constant,
S south
8)314 J mol\ K\
w west
R residue term for the temperature "eld

R residue term for the pressure "eld Superscripts

R gas constant of water vapour, R/M , n present time level
T U
462 J kg\ K\ n#1 new time level
s constant term r order of polynomial

transport mechanisms operative in both the liquid
and vapour phases. A schematic diagram showing
the transport of both phases during the drying of
food material is shown in Fig. 1. The present mathe-
matical model, incorporating the movement of
both phases, attempts to examine their contribution
to moisture migration when a food product under-
goes both constant and time-varying drying
schemes.
There are six major assumptions used to derive the
present material model for the drying of an agricultural
product, in this case, potato slabs.
 MO I ST U R E A ND T EM P E RA TU R E D I ST RIB U TIO N O F A G RI CU LT U RA L PR O D U CT 101

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the two-dimensional transport phenomenon during the drying of food material; x and y, co-ordinates;
Xt and Yt , co-ordinate at centreline in the direction of x and y co-ordinates, respectively

(1) Food materials are capillary porous media (Toei, where: K is the liquid permeability in m; *P/*x and
J
1982). *P/*y are the hydraulic liquid potential in the directions
(2) Internal temperature and moisture content are uni- of the x and y co-ordinates, respectively.
form prior to drying.
(3) Heat and moisture #ow are two-dimensional. 2.1.2. <apour -ux
(4) Density, speci"c heat and permeability of the prod- Vapour migration takes place due to convection and
ucts can be described in terms of the temperature, di!usion phenomena. However, for relatively low poro-
moisture content and porosity of the product. sity materials such as food materials, vapour migration
(5) No heat transfer modes due to radiation and conduc- due to convection can be considered negligible. There-
tion take place between material and drying air. fore, the mass #ux of the vapour g can be modelled based
(6) Shrinkage of material is taken into account by con- T
on Fick's law of di!usion and can be expressed as
sidering the transient change in product density.
*P *P
(g ) "!K T and (g ) "!K T (2)
2.1. Heat and mass transfer within the solid TV T *x TW T *y

The #ux and conservation equations, as applied to where: K is the vapour permeability in m and P is the
T T
porous bio-materials are as follows. vapour pressure in Pa.

2.1.1. ¸iquid -ux 2.1.3. Energy conservation equation

The capillary #ow of liquid is expressed using the For each spatial control volume, the energy conserva-
unsaturated #ow theory based on the extended Darcy tion equation is written as
equation. Although this theory is frequently employed to



study the unsaturated #ow in soils, it has been found to *¹ * *¹ * *¹
Cp o N" j N # j N #U (3)
be able to represent the #ow of liquid in porous materials N N *t *x V *x *y W *y
(Bomberg, 1974; Pedersen, 1992). Therefore, the mass
#ux of the liquid g can be written as where: Cp is the speci"c heat of the product in
J N
J kg\ K\; o is the density of the product in kg m\;
*P *P N
¹ is the temperature of the product in K; t is the time in
(g ) "!K
JV J *x
and (g ) "!K
JW J *y
(1) N
s; j and j are the thermal conductivities in the X and
V W
102 K . J. C H U A E¹ A ¸ .

> directions, respectively, in W m\ K\; and U is
a source term due to the latent heat of vaporization, in
J m\ s\.
Physically, Eqn (3) may be viewed as the rate of in-
crease of internal energy, given by the heat #ux entering
and leaving the boundaries by conduction from the "rst
term and the heat #ow due to moisture vaporization
given by the last term, where U is a source term involving
the latent heat of vapourization (Pang et al., 1992). It can
then be written as
neighbouring temperatures; a , a , a , a and a are
. # 5 , 1
coe$cients and s is a constant term.
Equation (7) is then discretized via the implementa-
tion of a delta-form methodology. The advantages
of employing the delta-form method include the easy
implementation of di!erent iterative schemes and easy
implementation of boundary conditions. Taking into
account the temperature di!erences *¹ between the pre-
sent time level n and the new time level n#1, Eqn (7)
may then be written as


*g *g a W*¹L>
X"a W*¹L>
X#a W*¹L>
X
U"!h T# T (4) . . # # 5 5
DE *x *y
#a W*¹L>
X#a W*¹L>
X#RL (8)
, , 1 1 
where: h is the heat of evaporation in J kg\ K\.
DE
where the residue term RL for the temperature "eld is

2.1.4. Mass conservation equation given as
Considering the mass #uxes through each control vol-
ume, the mass conservation equation is written as RL "a WX#a W
¹L X#a W
¹L X#a W
¹L ¹LX
 , , 1 1 # # 5 5
!(a #a #a #a )¹L#U *x *y
   
*X *(g ) *(g ) *(g ) *(g ) 5 # , 1 .
(9)
o "! T V# T W # J V# J W (5)
N *t *x *y *x *y
Equation (9) can then be transformed into the tri-diag-
The local moisture content X of the product can be onal matrix format (Patankar, 1980), and solved for ¹ .
.
related to the vapour pressure via the sorption isotherm Therefore, the local product temperature for the next
while the vapour pressure P in Pa can be expressed in time step can be written as
T
terms of the liquid suction pressure P in Pa via the
Kelvin's equation given by ¹L>"¹L#a *¹L> (10)
. . .

!P where a is a relaxation factor between 1 and 0.

ln(P )" #ln (P (¹ )) (6)
T o R¹ Q?R Q?R Similarly, the discretized form of Eqn (5) is written
U T T as
where: R is the gas constant of water vapour
T b W X"b W
*PL> *PL>
X#b W*PL>
X
(462 J kg\ K\); and P and ¹ are the saturation . . # # 5 5
Q?R Q?R
vapour pressure in Pa and the temperature in K, respec-
tively; o is the density of water in kgm\; and ¹ is the #b W*PL>
X#b W*PL>
X#RL (11)
U T , , 1 1 
vapour temperature in K.
Correlations, obtained from a series of experiments, where the residue term RL for the pressure "eld is given

are required to establish these relations and will be pre- by
sented in a later section.
RL"b WX#b W
PL PLX#b WX#b W
PL PLX#f (12)
 , , 1 1 # # 5 5

2.2. Numerical methodology and where: P in Eqn (11) is the liquid suction pressure at
.
the present main grid point P, with P , P , P and
# 5 ,
A "nite volume scheme is used to discretise Eqns (3) P being the four neighbouring pressures; b , b , b ,
1 . # 5
and (5) (Patankar, 1980). For simpli"cation, the subscript b and b are coe$cients and f is a constant term; and *P
, 1
p for the product temperature ¹ is removed. The dis- is the suction pressure di!erence between the present
N time level n and the new time level n#1. And, for the
cretised form of Eqn (3) is the following:
next time step,
a ¹ "a ¹ #a ¹ #a ¹ #a ¹ #s (7)
N . # # 5 5 , , 1 1
PL>"PL #b *PL> (13)
. . .
where: ¹ in Eqn (7) is the temperature of the present
.
main grid point P, with ¹ , ¹ , ¹ and ¹ being the four where b is a relaxation factor between 1 and 0.
# 5 , 1
 MO I ST U R E A ND T EM P E RA TU R E D I ST RIB U TIO N O F A G RI CU LT U RA L PR O D U CT 103

2.3. Initial and boundary conditions For the estimation of the heat transfer coe$cient
on the air side h , Sokhansanj and Jayas (1987) pro-
?
Boundary conditions for temperature at the product posed the following correlation for air #ow over #at food
surface (x/X "0, y/> "0) are products
R R
*¹ Nu"0)664Re Pr (21)
m Cp N"A h (¹ !¹L)!A h (¹L)gL (14)
. N *t N ? ?  N DE  T
where: Nu is the Nusselt number; Re is the Reynolds
where: m is the mass of the product in kg; A is the number; and Pr is the Prandtl number.
N N Using the Chilton}Colburn analogy, the mass transfer
surface area of the product in m; ¹ and ¹ are the
?  coe$cient h is calculated from the heat transfer coe$-
temperatures of the air and the product surface in K; and K
h is the convective heat transfer coe$cient of the air in cient h as follows:
? ?
W m\ K\.


For the centre of the product (x/X "1) 1
R h "
K
h (22)
Cp #>Cp ?
? T


*¹
N "0 (15)
*x for an air}water vapour system.
The thermodynamic and transport properties of the
and at y/> "1: air}water system can be obtained from Mujumdar
R (1995). The physical properties of the potato samples
such as o can be obtained from Lozano et al. (1983)


*¹ N
N "0 (16) while Cp , j and j can be obtained from Choi and Okos
*y N V W
(1996). For properties pertaining to K and K , the reader
T J
The boundary conditions for moisture at the product is referred to Ni and Datta (1999) and Ni et al. (1999).
surface (x/X "0, y/> "0) are A #owchart depicting the numerical methodology ad-
R R opted for the present work is shown in Fig. 2.


*X
m "(gL ) (17)
B *t T
3. Materials and methods
where: 3.1. Product moisture and temperature measurements



M PL H P
gL "h (o !o )"h U T ! 0 T? (18) For each experimental test, fresh potato was pur-
T K T ? K R ¹L ¹
T ? chased from the supermarket under the same brand
name to ensure consistency of results. The average initial
and where: m is the dry mass of the product in kg; h is
B K moisture content X is 4)35 kg kg\ dry basis while the
?TE
the mass transfer coe$cient in kg m\ s\; o and o
T ? composition of the potato samples is 78}82% water and
are the densities of the water vapour at the product 0)5}23% total sugar.
surface and the drying air, respectively, in kg m\; M is
U The samples were skinned or peeled, sliced with an
the molar mass of water in kg mol\; P and P are the
T T? adjustable food-slicer to 15 mm thickness and cut to
vapour pressure at the product surface and the drying air, 30 mm by 30 mm with a twin-knife "xture. Three groups
respectively, in Pa; ¹L and ¹ are the temperature of
T ? of three samples each were placed on netted-trays posi-
vapour at product surface and the drying air, respective- tioned in the drying chamber of the heat pump dryer for
ly, in K; R is the universal gas constant moisture content measurements. The weight of the speci-
(8)314 J mol\ K\); and H is the relative humidity.
0 men during drying was measured using a digital weighing
At the centre of the product (x/X "1):
R scale, Ohaus, model E1D120, of accuracy $0)05 g for
a maximum weight of 4)1 kg. The maximum uncertainty
*X *P of the moisture content measurements was estimated to
"0 N "0 (19)
*x *x be 1)5% for a moisture content of 0)01 kg kg\. Omega
Research type &T' thermocouple probes (38 mm in length)
and at y/> "1: were used to determine the local temperature distribu-
R
tion in one of the samples (Chou et al., 1997). Each probe
*X *P comes with Te#on insulated lead wires and uses a stan-
"0 N "0 (20)
*y *y dard (21 gauge) hypodermic needle.
104 K . J. C H U A E¹ A ¸ .

Fig. 2. Flow chart illustrating the solution procedure; t(s), time; *t(s), time increment; a , a , a , a and a , coezcients; b , b , b ,
. # 5 , 1 . # 5
b and b , coezcients; R n1 and R n2 , residues
, 1

The temperature range of the drying air spanned from
25 to 403C while the humidity was maintained in the
range of 0)0074 to 0)0103 kg kg\ dry air for the present
study. The mean moisture content and local product
temperature of the potato samples during were measured
periodically via an eight-bit data-logger with 20 chan-
nels. The uncertainties due to calibration for each para-
meter are given in Table 1.
3.2. Heat pump dryer
A two-stage heat pump dryer was used to allow accu-
rate control of both the humidity and temperature of the
drying air according to the selected air temperature pro-
"le. A schematic diagram of an advanced two-stage heat
pump dryer with improved control mechanism is shown
in Fig. 3. A two-stage heat pump dryer refers to a
 MO I ST U R E A ND T EM P E RA TU R E D I ST RIB U TIO N O F A G RI CU LT U RA L PR O D U CT
Table 1
Estimated uncertainties for di4erent measurements
Measured property
Moisture content (weighing balance)
Hypodermic temperature probe
Inlet and outlet air temperatures (type &T' thermocouple)
Inlet and outlet air humidity (relative humidity sensor)
Air velocity (rotating anemometer calibrated by manufacturer)
two-stage evaporator system with one evaporator oper-
ating at higher pressure with reference to the other. The
desired drying air conditions were generated and control-
led with the use of three proportional, integral, di!eren-
tial (PID) controllers. One controller was used to provide
su$cient sensible heat from hot gas condenser (HGC),
subcooler 1 (SC1) and subcooler 2 (SC2) to the drying
air to achieve the air temperature. The second controller
was used to control sensible heat input from an auxiliary
heater to cater to higher air temperature require-
ments. The third controller was used to modulate the
face and bypass dampers of the evaporators so as
to control the dehumidi"cation process and maintain
the desired humidity of the drying air. More details
of the control mechanism for the two-stage heat
pump dryer can also be found in Hawlader et al.
(1999).
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the two-stage heat pump dryer: 1,
fresh air intake at louver; 2, air damper; 3, economizer 1 (EC1); 4,
high-pressure evaporator (HP); 5, low-pressure evaporaor (LP);
6, economizer 2 (EC2); 7, centrifugal fan; 8, exhaust air louver; 9,
hot gas condenser (HGC); 10, subcooler 1 (SC1); 11, subcooler
2 (SC2); 12, heating bank; 13, load-cell; 14, product tray; 15,
micromac data-logger; 16, Personal computer
105
Uncertainty Range
$1)5% 0}7 kg
#5)6% 10}803C
$2)4% 2)5}903C
$2)3% 22)4}97)3%
$1)0% 0)5}30)0 m s\
3.3. Sorption equilibrium
To obtain the sorption isotherm required in formula-
ting the model, the gravimetric method was used to
obtain the relationship between the equilibrium moisture
content, air relative humidity and temperature. Experi-
ments were conducted under controlled conditions of
relative humidity and temperature.
Proximity equilibration cells (PECs), shown in Fig. 4,
have been used by many researchers (Kameoka et al.,
1986; Kanade & Pai, 1988) to study sorption isotherms.
Six saturated salt solutions to obtain di!erent relative
humidities were prepared (Richards et al., 1992). The
PECs, with the saturated solutions, were "rst stored in
a temperature and air#ow-controlled oven (Contherm
2300B) to attain constant temperature and relative hu-
midity before the start of each experiment. Temperature
control can be achieved to within $0)53C. A small
amount of crystalline thymol was placed in each PEC of
high relative humidity conditions to prevent the growth
of fungi on the samples (Saravacos et al., 1986). To ensure
higher accuracy of the water activity measurement, the
latest state-of-the-art measuring equipment was also
used. The Aqualab CX-3 model is the fastest and most
accurate water activity instrumentation available today.
Readings are given in 5 min or less and are accurate to
within $0)003 which is a signi"cant improvement over
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the proximity equilibration cell for
water activity measurements
106 K . J. C H U A E¹ A ¸ .

other water activity measuring instruments (Doe et al., Table 2

1998). GAB equation parameters for potato samples

Parameter Value

4. Results and discussion Monolayer moisture content 7)320

X , kg[water] kg\[dry mass]
K
Semi-empirical parameters d !2)271
4.1. Sorption isotherm Semi-empirical parameters K !0)9992

The sorption isotherm is plotted to relate the equilib-

rium moisture content X to the water activity a . The
C U be due to the relatively small temperature range covered
sorption isotherm shows the relationship between the
equilibrium moisture content of a material surrounded by the experiments. As a result, to simplify the material
by ambient air at various relative humidities under equi- model formulation, a single curve was used to "t the
librium. Therefore, from the sorption isotherm, it is also GAB equation.
easy to relate moisture content to the relative humidity of
the air in which it is placed.
In recent years, the GAB model (Guggenheim, 1966) 4.2. Moisture retention curve
has been widely used. It has been applied by many
researchers (Singh & Heldman, 1993; Madamba et al., A moisture retention curve represents the relation-
1994) and is reported to be applicable up to a water ship between moisture content and the liquid suction
activity value of 0)95 in many cases. The GAB model is pressure. Besides performing experiments to determine
expressed as this relation, one alternative is to use Kelvin's equation,
previously described in Eqn (6), and results from the
X dKa sorption isotherm, to relate the liquid suction pressure
C" U (23)
X (1!Ka )(1!Ka #cKa ) P to the moisture content.
K U U U The moisture retention curve is shown in Fig. 6. Due to
the variation in order of magnitude of the suction pres-
where: X is the monolayer moisture content in
K sure with the moisture content, it is customary to plot
kg [water] kg\ [dry mass], and d and K are semi-em-
the natural log of the suction pressure (ln P) against the
pirical parameters.
moisture content X. Since the relationship between
The sorption isotherm data for the potato samples at
the suction pressure and moisture content is a property of
temperature of 20, 30 and 403C are presented in Fig. 5.
the material which varies from one material to another,
The GAB model in Eqn (23) was "tted to these data to
a polynomial was "tted to the data points:
present a single curve and the values for X , d and K are
K
given in Table 2. The temperature dependence of the
sorption curves does not seem to be signi"cant. This may X"c #c (ln P)#c (ln P)#2#c (ln P)P (24)
   P

Fig. 5. Sorption isotherm based on the GAB equation for a potato Fig. 6. Moisture retention curve for potato sample; , data
sample at three temperatures: , 203C; , 303C; , 403C points; , best xt curve
 MO I ST U R E A ND T EM P E RA TU R E D I ST RIB U TIO N O F A G RI CU LT U RA L PR O D U CT 107

Table 3
Coe7cients used for the liquid retention curve

Coezcients Value

c !0)0910
c 9)09
c 377)39
c 8342)33
c 103549)8
c 684295)6
c 1880778)3


Equation (24) is used to correlate the moisture content

to the liquid suction pressure. The coe$cients, c }c , in
 P
the polynomial of order r are given in Table 3. This
relation is required to correlate the product moisture
content to the liquid pressure.
4.3. Model validation
The model was validated by comparing the predictions
from the model with experimental results. The capacity
of this model to represent the experimental data was
realized in terms of the mean relative percentage devi-
ation modulus E as de"ned by Eqn (25):
100 8 "e !p "
E" G G
Z e
G G observed local product temperature was observed to be
where: e and p are the experimental and predicted data
G G
being compared; and Z is the total number of samples
compared.
Fig. 8. Comparison between product temperature obtained from
model and experimental data for constant drying conditions at
various co-ordinates of y relative to the centreline co-ordinate Y :
R
, y/Yt"0)2 (experiments); , y/Yt"0)4 (experiments); ,
y/Yt"0)8 (experiments); , y/Yt"0)2 (model); ,
y/Yt"0)4 (model); , y/Yt"0)8 (model)
Figures 7 and 8 present the comparison between the
model prediction and the experimental results for prod-
uct mean moisture content and local temperature values,
respectively. It is seen from Fig. 7 that generally there is
good agreement between predicted moisture values and
experimental data. The largest discrepancies between
model and experimental data for drying temperatures of
25, 30 and 403C are 5)1, 5)9 and 7)4%, respectively. From
(25) Fig. 8, the maximum deviation between predicted and
6)1%. Part of this deviation may be attributed to the
uncertain measurements of the product local temper-
atures.
Figure 9 shows the di!erent stepwise air temperature
pro"les employed in the present study. As part of our
attempt to study the e!ect of time-varying drying
schemes on the moisture and temperature distributions

Fig. 7. Comparison between moisture content obtained from

model and experimental data for constant drying conditions; ,
253C (experiments); , 303C (experiments); , 403C (experi-
ments); , 253C (model); , 303C (model); , 403C Fig. 9. Stepwise temperature proxles versus drying time; ,
(model) step-down proxle; , step-up proxle
108 K . J. C H U A E¹ A ¸ .

Fig. 10. Comparison between moisture content obtained from

model and experimental data for stepwise varying of air temper-
ature; , 253C (experiments); , step-up temperature proxle
(experiments); , step-down temperature proxle (experiments);
, 253C (model); , step-up temperature proxle (model);
, step-down temperature proxle (model)

in the potato samples, the model was further validated

with mean moisture content data collected from experi-
ments performed under stepwise air temperature vari-
ations. Figure 10 shows the comparison between the
model and experiments. The model is able to predict the
mean moisture content of the product dried under step-
down and step-up air temperature variation to within 5)0
and 4)6%, respectively. It can further be inferred from
this "gure that both experiments and analytical model
show saving in drying time of up to 120 min by perform-
ing a step-down varying of the drying air temperature. In
our previous work (Chua et al., 2000), where similar step-
down air temperature pro"le was employed, we ob-
served, via experiments, saving of up to 180 min for
drying of banana samples. Other researchers, such as
Devahastin and Mujumdar (1999), have also found sig-
ni"cant reduction of drying time in the order of 30% by
employing a simple step-wise change in drying air tem-
Fig. 11. Moisture distribution comparison between constant and
perature in their study on batch drying of grains. It stepwise varying of drying air temperature (results from model);
should be noted, however, that the degree of percentage , 253C; , step-up temperature proxle; , step-down
improvement is dryer and product-dependent. Figure 10 temperature proxle
further shows that step-up temperature drying produces
a relatively linear drying curve with an inverted shape
as compared to the conventional drying curves. Such 4.4. Moisture distribution
a pro"le is not unexpected since the product drying
rate is relatively slow at the beginning stage due to Figure 11 shows the moisture distribution of the
the reduced drying potential. The slow removal of product from the surface to the centre section in the >
the surface moisture allows su$cient time for the direction. After 60 min of drying, the internal moisture
surface to be replenished by the internal product gradient was observed to be higher for the samples un-
moisture. dergoing step-down temperature pro"le as compared to
With the analytical model properly calibrated with samples undergoing constant (253C) and step-up air tem-
experiments, the model is ready for studying the product perature pro"les. This observation is expected since the
moisture and temperature distributions under di!erent step-down pro"le is able to o!er higher initial drying
stepwise varying of the inlet drying air. potential by virtue of its higher starting temperature.
 MO I ST U R E A ND T EM P E RA TU R E D I ST RIB U TIO N O F A G RI CU LT U RA L PR O D U CT
Fig. 12. Product temperature distribution under step-down tem-
perature proxle drying (results from model) at various co-ordina-
tes of y relative to the centreline coordinate Yt : , surface;
, y/Yt"0)2; , y/Yt"0)4; , y/Yt"0)6;
, y/Yt"0)8; , y/Yt"1)0
The moisture gradient within the product is approxim-
ately similar for all three drying pro"les as drying time
approaches 120 min. Towards the last phase of drying at
240 min, Fig. 11 shows that the step-down pro"le pro-
duces more uniform internal moisture distribution while
the moisture gradient is still signi"cant for step-up tem-
perature pro"le. It should be noted that any change in
external air temperature has immediate impact on the
internal moisture distribution throughout the entire dry-
ing process.
4.5. ¹emperature distribution
The model was simulated to study the temperature
pro"les at local points located equidistant from each
other. Product temperature distributions in Figs 12 and
13 show, respectively, the predicted results when subject-
ing the potato sample to step-down and step-up air
temperature pro"les. For step-down temperature pro"le,
it is evidenced from Figs 12 and 13 that the response of
the product surface is immediate when the air temper-
ature changes. This is expected since the product surface
is the "rst layer in thermal communication with the
drying air. It is also apparent from Fig. 12 that the
thermal gradient between two equidistant layers gradual-
ly decreases after each drying temperature stepped-down
period. This may be explained from the fact that part of
the heat conducted from the surface to the deeper prod-
uct layers, besides raising the internal product temper-
ature, has to provide for moisture migration. An
interesting observation occurs during the second air tem-
perature step-down period. The temperatures of the
109
Fig. 13. Product temperature distribution under step-up temper-
ature proxle drying (results from model) at various co-ordinates
of y relative to the centreline coordinate Yt : , surface;
, y/Yt"0)2; , y/Yt"0)4; , y/Yt"0)6;
, y/Yt"0)8; , y/Yt"1)0
internal layers (y/> "0)6}1)0) continue to rise while the
R
temperatures of the layers from surface to a value for y/>
R
of 0)4 are lowered, reacting to the step-decrease in air
temperature. A cross-point occurs at approximately
124 min. Thereafter, the temperature is higher at internal
layers proceeding in the direction of the centreline to the
product surface. Heat is re-distributed from the product
interior to the surface due to reversed thermal gradient.
Therefore, a certain thermal &switch' is observed to exist
such that by choosing the appropriate step-down ampli-
tude and periodic time, it is possible to control the time
when the direction of the thermal gradient is switched.
This reversal in thermal gradient may contribute, in part,
to the uniform moisture distribution that was observed in
the previous section. The existence of this thermal switch
has important implications for the product quality and
will be discussed in a subsequent section.
Figure 13 shows the temperature distribution of the
product when dried under step-up air temperature pro-
"le. This "gure shows that the local temperature at all
y-spatial levels increased as drying proceeds. It can also
be observed, as moisture continues to be removed from
the product, that the thermal gradient from the surface to
the spatial level of y/> equal to 0)2 increases gradually.
R
The previous section has shown that step-up varying of
air temperature resulted in reduced drying rate. This
reduced rate may be attributed to the slow surface moist-
ure removal during the initial drying period which acts as
additional thermal resistance for surface heat-up. To-
wards the latter stages of drying, when small dry patches
appear on the surface, the convective heat from the air to
the surface enables higher temperature increment. The
quick rise in the surface temperature is partly due to
110 K . J. C H U A E¹ A ¸ .
reduced thermal resistance (evaporated moisture) and
partly due to the reduced portion of the convected heat
required to evaporate the surface moisture. On the other
hand, the part of heat conducted from the surface to the
inner layers has to continue to provide the latent energy
for liquid and vapour movement. The step-up change in
local temperature becomes more gradual towards the
product internal. As drying proceeds, the step temper-
ature increment at spatial levels for y/> of 0)2 and 0)4
R
becomes less conspicuous.
4.6. Product quality
Quality changes during drying are closely related to
the distribution of moisture and local temperature gradi-
ent in the material. According to Achanta (1997), in order
to understand the quality changes that occur in foods
during drying, it is not only important to identify the
mechanism of moisture transport but also associated
changes in the material during di!erent stages of drying.
In this section we discuss how the moisture and temper-
ature distributions for both constant and time}temper-
ature varying drying schemes can a!ect the product
quality.
The degradation of most quality parameters such as
non-enzymatic browning and ascorbic acid can be com-
monly described by either a zero-order or "rst-order rate
equation as given by Eqns (26) and (27), respectively.
dC
"!k (26)
dt
dC
"!kC (27)
dt
where: C is the quality parameter in %; and k is the rate
constant in min\.
The rate constant k is temperature dependent and can
be described by the Arrhenius relation:


E 1
k"k exp !  (28)
M R ¹
0
Eqn (28) can be re-expressed as
E 1
ln k"ln k !  (29)
M R ¹
0
where: k is a constant rate value in min\; E is the
M 
energy of activation in J mol\; R is the universal gas
constant (8)314 J mol\ K\); and ¹ is the reaction tem-
0
perature in K.
The reaction activation energy, E , is a measure of the
temperature sensitivity of the reaction. In general, the
temperature sensitivity is manifested by an increased loss
in quality parameter, such as ascorbic acid, with increas-
ing temperature (McMinn & Macgee, 1997). This is due
to the increase in rate constant k when the reaction
temperature ¹ increases. Also, it can easily be observed
0
from Eqns (26) and (27) that a longer drying period
would cause further quality degradation. It would, there-
fore, appear that step-down varying of the drying air
temperature is a favourable temperature schedule to min-
imize quality degradation. Firstly, it enables internal heat
#ux reversal, resulting in a lower temperature gradient
within the samples, particularly towards the second half
of the drying process. Thus, a uniform temperature distri-
bution within the product is ensured. Secondly, based on
earlier results portrayed in Fig. 10, it reduces the drying
time to obtain the desired moisture content. Chang et al.
(1998) have found that when the temperature distribution
in a cheese block is non-uniform, undesirable changes in
#avour, texture and bacterial activity may take place.
Therefore, air temperature management, via the judi-
cious employment of step-down temperature pro"le of
the drying air, in food drying may be the key to the
signi"cant improvement of the product quality.
The product quality is not only in#uenced by its inter-
nal temperature distribution, it is also a!ected by the
distribution of its internal moisture. The amount of
moisture content in the product was found to be able to
inhibit the degradation of product colour (Wolfrom et al.,
1974) and ascorbic acid level (McMinn & Macgee, 1997).
Primarily, internal moisture content dilutes the level of
ascorbic acid concentration, thereby inducing a relatively
slow reaction rate. Hendel et al. (1955) have reported
more severe quality deterioration at low moisture con-
tents. For a product requiring low moisture content,
step-down temperature pro"le drying may be considered
for improving product quality. The levelling of the inter-
nal product moisture would ensure a more even ascorbic
acid distribution within the product.
It is clear, from previous sections, that the temperature
and moisture distributions in the product are not uni-
form throughout the material during drying. Based on
this fact, Oliveria et al. (1994) have concluded that biolo-
gical products, with #at surfaces under convective drying,
will be subjected to localized high-temperature and
moisture gradients, leading to non-uniform product
quality. The results from stepwise varying of air temper-
ature are applicable to the enhancement of drying
processes through shorter drying time and minimizing
quality degradation. The validated analytical model pro-
vides a better understanding of the internal moisture
distribution occurring during the drying of an agricul-
tural product and has applicability in studying the e!ect
 MO I ST U R E A ND T EM P E RA TU R E D I ST RIB U TIO N O F A G RI CU LT U RA L PR O D U CT
of non-steady drying conditions on the material drying
kinetics and product quality.
5. Conclusions
A numerical model which solves the coupled heat and
mass equations for liquid water and water vapour move-
ments through a porous food material has been presented.
The model demonstrated good agreement with experi-
mental moisture data in the order of 7)4 and 5)1% for
constant and stepwise temperature-varying drying
scheme, respectively. Further validation of the model with
product temperature data shows agreement in the order of
6)1%. Through the model and experiments, it has been
shown that step-down manual adjustment of the drying
air temperature reduces the drying time to 120 min to
attain similar product moisture content. For step-down
varying of the air temperature, the model shows that the
direction of the thermal gradient can be switched such that
the direction of the heat #ow is from the product internal
to its surface. Step-down air temperature drying was also
found to produce more uniform internal moisture distri-
bution towards the latter stage of drying.
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