INVESTIGATION OF DRYING KINETICS OF APRICOTS IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

In this study, Çöloğlu, Hacıhaliloğlu, Kabaaşı and Karacabey apricot species grown in Malatya province of Turkey were used. The effects of various drying environment on the drying kinetics of crude and pre-treated apricots have been investigated. The experiments were conducted in the sunlight and in the shade environment with SO2 treated and untreated apricot. While the drying speed curves of the dried apricots increased rapidly at the beginning, the drying speed curve started to decrease afterwards. The data was fitted to five different mathematical models. Midilli et al. model was determined as the best one to explain drying of apricots by comparing the coefficient of correlation determination (R2), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) between the observed and expected moisture ratios.