Drying kinetics of atemoya pulp

ABSTRACT This study was conducted in order to obtain drying curves of whole atemoya pulp through the foam-mat drying method. The suspension was prepared with whole atemoya pulp mixed with 2% of Emustab® and 2% of Super Liga Neutra® with mixing time of 20 min, and dried in a forced-air oven at different temperatures (60; 70 and 80 °C) and thicknesses of the foam layer (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 cm). The drying rate curves were plotted against the water content ratio and the semi-theoretical models of Henderson & Pabis, Page and Midilli were used. All tested models showed coefficient of determination (R2) above 0.993, and the Midilli model showed the best fit for all conditions. Drying curves were affected by temperature and layer thickness.