Mathematical modeling of the foam-mat drying curves of guava pulp

ABSTRACT In foam-mat drying, the liquid food is foamed by the addition of a foaming agent, for example, albumin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adjustment of mathematical models to foam mat drying curves of guava pulp. The fits were evaluated using samples with 4 and 8% albumin (m m-1) and drying temperatures of 75, 80 and 85 °C. The samples were placed on aluminum trays. Drying was carried out in a tray dryer. The Lewis, Page, Midilli and Logarithmic models were fitted to the experimental data and evaluated based on the coefficient of determination (R2), root-mean-square error (RMSE) and chi-square test. All models fitted well to experimental data and Midilli was the best. Albumin concentration and temperature influenced the drying rate; the lowest drying times occurred for the highest albumin concentration and highest drying temperature.