Drying of Banana Slices: Lumped Model Application and Experiments

Abstract

This work presents a theoretical and experimental study of banana drying. Whole banana were peeled, sliced manually and dried in an oven at constant drying condition (40 and 70°C). Drying, heating and shrinkage lumped models were proposed and fitted to experimental data. Non-linear regression analyses were done to verify the consistence of the models to predict the experimental data. Results revealed which air temperature affect significantly moisture removal, heating and shrinkage of banana slices. Drying, heating and dimensions variations were increased when higher temperature and area/volume relationship are used. The fitted results presented good agreement with experimental data.