This study analyzed the drying kinetics of peanut pods employing sun, hot air, and microwave drying techniques, and evaluated their mathematical modeling. The findings demonstrated that sun-drying decreased the moisture content from 26.47% to 8-10% over a duration surpassing 72 hours. Hot air drying at temperatures of 60°C, 80°C, and 100°C, commencing with an initial moisture content of 29.92%, necessitated 810 minutes, 360 minutes, and 660 minutes, respectively. Microwave drying, commencing with an initial moisture content of 23.01%, required 40 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes at belt velocities of 3 mm/s, 4.9 mm/s, and 6.2 mm/s, respectively, at 300 W. At 400 W, the durations were 24 minutes, 30 minutes, and 40 minutes, respectively. All drying kinetics curves exhibited decreasing rates characteristic of agro-food products. Mathematical modeling analysis identified the Midilli model as the most appropriate, succeeded by the Page, Henderson, and Pabis models, for characterizing moisture loss during the sun, hot air, and belt microwave drying of peanut pods.

The cultivation and the usage of maize have been significantly increased across all provinces of Rwanda. Nevertheless, the problem of aflatoxin contamination remains a major factor that renders them to be unfit for animal and human consumption. In this research, the effects of drying methods (sun drying, kitchen drying, dry shelter) post aflatoxin infection in maize were evaluated in Northern Rwanda. A randomized complete block design with four replications was used with maize variety (H628) with drying methods as the main plot. Maize samples were tested for aflatoxin using aflatest. In both seasons (2021 A and 2021 B) the aflatoxin results show that the aflatoxin infection levels were lower in maize dried with kitchen drying (1.4 ppb) compared to the samples dried with sun drying (1.6 ppb) and dry shelter (2.2). Also, it was seen that the three drying methods are good for reducing the aflatoxin infection levels lower than 10 ppb as standards limit for East African countries. The aflatoxin infection levels were found to be significant (≤10 ppb) as results of kitchen drying than sun drying and dry shelter methods. This research resulted that proper drying such as drying maize on kitchen fire (kitchen drying) produce the lower level of aflatoxin infection in maize.

In this research, fresh green peppers were dried in a kitchen microwave oven at 600W, 700W and 800W. The drying curves of the study were compared with 5 different thin layer drying models in the literature. The changes in the moisture values of the samples against time were expressed graphically. R2, χ2 and RMSE values were used to determine the most suitable model for dried green peppers. Color values of fresh and dried peppers were determined. It was found that the L* and b* values of the dried peppers were lower, and the a* value was higher than the fresh green peppers. In addition, the rehydration rate of dried peppers was calculated. It was determined that the rehydration ability of the peppers decreased as the applied microwave power increased. For this reason, it was found that the peppers with the highest rehydration rate were those dried with 600W. Also, it was found that the most suitable model for all microwave powers among the five drying models was the Logarithmic drying model. It was calculated that the R2 values of the drying models ranged between 0.830-0.999, χ2 values between 0.0001- 0.4684 and RMSE values between 0.0014-0.6121. It was determined that the highest R2 (0.997-0.999), the lowest χ2 (0.0001-0.0002) values, and the lowest RMSE (0.0014-0.0035) values for all microwave powers belong to the Logarithmic drying model.

In Turkey, three species of mulberries, white (M. Alba), black (M. Nigra), and red-purple (M. Rubra) are grown commonly. These widely can be consumed fresh as well as dry. However, its rapid post-harvest decay raises major concerns about the sustainability of the fruit for both food and economic purposes. In this regard, besides the fresh consumption of black mulberry fruit, it can consume as dried it also offers an alternative way. In this study, it was aimed to compare some quality parameters in fresh and dry samples of Morus rubra fruits grown in Tokat. It was applied different temperatures to Morus rubra fruits that at collected in two different maturity levels (semi-ripe and full-ripe). In the drying process, mulberry fruits were dried in a hot air dryer at 40, 50, 60, and 70°C. Total phenol, Total phenol, total monomeric anthocyanin, total antioxidant capacity, colour values (L, a, b) chroma, hue (ho), and browning indices values will be measured in fresh and dried products. In addition, different mathematical models will be tried by constantly noting the weight drops of the products at certain time intervals and determining which mathematical model will best predict the drying kinetics

The aim of this study was to examine the drying kinetics of pears (Pyrus communis L.) with and without vacuum impregnation and under the different temperature by using tray dryer. Vacuum impregnation were applied to the the pears (15 mm thickness, 65 mm outer and 20 mm inner dimensions respectively) with the conditions of 50⁰ Brix impregnation solution concentration, 225 mbar vacuum pressure and 45 min vacuum time. Drying process was carried out at temperatures of 55, 65 and 75°C. Drying time of non-vacuum impregnated pears was determined 640, 500 and 340 min and vacuum impregnated pears was determined 700, 540 and 560 min respectively. Page, Exponential, Henderson and Pabis, Diffusion Approach were examined for testing the drying kinetics. Experimental values are in accordance with the expected values resulted Page and Difussion models of with and without vacuum impregnated pears. Effective diffusion coefficient (Deff) was varying 2.74×10-11 to 7.31×10-11 m2/s. m2/s with respect to the drying temperatures. The activation energy for the non-vacuum impregnated and vacuum impregnated pears was 32.93 kJ / mol and 24.25 kJ / mol, respectively.

Parsley leaves (Petroselinum crispum L.) weighing 100 ± 0.09 g were dehydrated from moisture content of 82.24 ± 0.07% to 10.01 ± 0.02 % (wet basis) using the microwave (MD), convective (CD), solar oven (SOD), sun (SD) and natural (ND) drying. Drying in MD, CD, SOD, SD, and ND was completed at 18±1.15, 61±0.58, 255±10, 330±5.29, and 1530±11.55 min, respectively. The energy consumption of MD and CD was measured as 0.213±0.009 and 0.427±0.015 kWh, respectively. In microwave drying, 700 W microwave output power was applied while convective drying was used with 50°C temperature and 1m/s air velocity. The sun and solar oven drying processes were carried out under the same conditions at the same time. The average temperature of the system during the solar oven drying was 81.7±1.5°C whereas the airflow in the system was 0.5 m/s. The data obtained from the experiments were also modeled using twelve different thin-layer drying equations, and thus the theoretical data were obtained. According to these theoretical data, the best model in the microwave and natural drying was Alibas’s equation while the most suitable model in the solar and convective drying was modified Henderson and Pabis’s model. On the other hand, it was seen that the best model in the solar oven drying was the Page equation. As a result, considering both quality and drying parameters, it was determined that MD and SOD were the most suitable method for drying of parsley leaves.

Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable contains flavonoids, amino acid derivatives, glycolic acid, tyrosine, vitamins, saponins and essential oils and it has health benefits such as prevention of cancer, mutation, inflammation, and liver damage. The aim of this study is to investigate drying kinetics of Asparagus officinalis. According to R, χ2, RMSE and Error values, the model parameters at different temperatures (70°C, 80°C, 90°C), spear thickness (1 mm, 2 mm and 3mm), and microwave power (100 W, 200 W, and 300W) were compared. Midilli and Kucuk equation was found as the best equation to describe drying of Asparagus officinalis. R values of Midilli and Kucuk Equation changed between 0.8886 and 0.9989 for hot air drying and between 0.9568 and 0.9999 for a microwave drying.

This study was conducted to assess the effect of drying methods and pre-treatments on nutritional content and sensory quality of dried fish. The experiment was conducted in factorial arrangement of 2×3×2 with two drying methods (sun and oven drying), three fish species (tilapia, cat fish and carp) and two preservatives treatment (garlic and ginger juice) laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Fresh fillets were analysed for their nutritional value and sensory quality. The compositions of the fresh fillets were 6.50-7.59% for ash, 74.20-76.67% for protein, 8.06-9.09% for fat and 8.47-9.12% for total carbohydrates. Drying reduced the moisture contents from 74.74-75.81% to between 7.76-8.25%, making it safe for storage. The ash content changed from 7.11 to 7.34 and from 6.50% to 6.34% for cat fish and tilapia, respectively, with statistical significance whereas no change was observed in carp with 7.60% because of drying. Drying method had no difference in ash and protein contents while increase in fat from 7.75 to 9.44% and a decrease in carbohydrate from 9.37 to 8.13% were observed in sun dried samples than that of oven dried fillets. This study showed that nutritional values of dry fish did not statistically changed during storage period of 3 months.

In Turkey, three species of mulberries, white (M. Alba), black (M. Nigra), and red-purple (M. Rubra) are grown commonly. These widely can be consumed fresh as well as dry. However, its rapid post-harvest decay raises major concerns about the sustainability of the fruit for both food and economic purposes. In this regard, besides the fresh consumption of black mulberry fruit, it can consume as dried it also offers an alternative way. In this study, it was aimed to compare some quality parameters in fresh and dry samples of Morus rubra fruits grown in Tokat. It was applied different temperatures to Morus rubra fruits that at collected in two different maturity levels (semi-ripe and full-ripe). In the drying process, mulberry fruits were dried in a hot air dryer at 40, 50, 60, and 70°C. Total phenol, Total phenol, total monomeric anthocyanin, total antioxidant capacity, colour values (L, a, b) chroma, hue (ho), and browning indices values will be measured in fresh and dried products. In addition, different mathematical models will be tried by constantly noting the weight drops of the products at certain time intervals and determining which mathematical model will best predict the drying kinetics