Experimental and parametric study on drying of green peas in spouted bed

Abstract

Drying of Green Peas (Pisum sativum) was studied experimentally in a lab-scale spouted bed. Experiments were carried out at different operating conditions, and the effect of inlet air temperature and its flow rate, bed height (initial mass of wet particles) and average diameter of particles were examined on performance of dryer and rate of drying. The obtained experimental results were fitted by an exponential form equation to model the drying kinetic behaviour of green peas in a spouted bed. The fitting parameters are presented in the form of mathematical correlations as a function of operating parameters. As expected, it was found that by increasing inlet air temperature and air-flow rate, the rate of drying increases, but by increasing the bed height and diameter of particles, the rate of drying decreases. The results can help the design engineers to choose the optimum drying conditions for industrial applications. © 2010 The Authors. International Journal of Food Science and Technology © 2010 Institute of Food Science and Technology.