Mathematical modeling of drying kinetic of Bhimkol (Musa balbisiana) Pulp by applying master curve technique and general code developed in MATLAB

Abstract

Thin layer drying kinetics of Bhimkol pulp was carried out on the basis of a general code developed in MATLAB R2012a software. In this code, single input of the drying parameters helps to provide very precise and petite analysis of batches of drying experiment at different temperatures. Drying experiment was carried out in a dehumidified dryer at 40, 50 and 60  temperatures respectively. Among the five thin layer drying models used for the analysis, Midilli Kucuk showed best fitted result with greatest  value and lowest RMSE and SSE values.For better generalization of the drying model, an attempt of master curve technique was also carried out. Master curve technique gave better fit with a R² value of 0.9969 than the global drying constant method and normal mathematical modeling technique.From the results it was also observed that the value of drying constant k and effective diffusivity for the drying followed a rising trend with the increasing temperature. The activation energy for the drying was 5.0778 X10⁰⁴ kJ/mol.