NOGUEIRA, G. T.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0279366339815080; NOGUEIRA, Geovane Tavares.
Resumo:
Drying is a process used in several productive sectors, among which stands out the food industry.
From this perspective, studies have been developed in order to improve the drying processes
in order to improve the quality of the final product. Given this, we present in this work the
study of mathematical modeling that describes the drying of carrots which is a vegetable known
to have high moisture content. In addition, to evaluate the drying process through empirical
and diffusive models and to determine through experimental data the carrot drying curves for
temperatures of 40, 50, 60 and 70 o C, as well as to characterize the carrot throughout the process.
by making physicochemical analyzes available to the entire scientific community. Thus, several
mathematical models are proposed in the literature for the study of carrot drying kinetics, seeking
to estimate the simultaneous heat and mass transfers involved in drying kinetics. These models
are used to predict the behavior of drying curves of the material. The operating conditions used
in the procedure were for carrot discs 5 mm thick and approximately 38 mm in diameter on
average. It was noticeable from the results that among the empirical models Page was the one
that best fit the experimental data. On the other hand, there are diffusive models that have been
widely used in the description of processes involving transport phenomena, since these models,
besides presenting parameters with physical meanings, can also describe the distribution of
moisture content inside. product at a specified time and in a specified position. Through the
physicochemical analysis it can be said that with the drying process, no significant losses in the
nutrients were detected, thus concluding that this conservation procedure used is advantageous,
since they reduce expenses such as transport, storage and increase the time, shelf life of this
product.