INFLUENCE OF AIR VELOCITY IN DEHYDRATION OF POTATO CUBES

Air velocity is an important operating variable operation on hot air drying. For improving energy efficiency it is necessary to know its influence on the kinetics. The aim of this work was to establish the effect of air velocity on the drying kinetics of potato cubes. Potato cubes of 1 cm side were dehydrated at 60oC and 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.5, 7.0, 8.0 and 10.0 m/s. Experimental drying kinetics were modeled neglecting shrinkage and external resistance. It was observed that there is no interest to increase air velocity above 1.5 m/s, external resistance to mass transfer must be considered below this air velocity value.