Microwave and Infrared Drying Characteristics of Mango Slices

In this study, mango slices were dried with using both microwave and infrared methods. The microwave and infrared power levels are determined between 90 – 800W and 75 – 104 W, respectively. The results of this study show that microwave and infrared power levels have an effect on drying kinetics. Five thin-layer drying models that were widely used in the literature were applied to the experimental data and the effective moisture diffusivity, activation energy and energy consumptions are also calculated. Midilli & Kucuk model was the best fits of experimental data for both microwave and infrared drying. The effective moisture diffusivity values were determined to be between 2.28 × 10 -9 and 4.66 × 10 -8 m 2 /s, and 5.07 × 10 –10 - 1.27 × 10 –9 m 2 /s for microwave and infrared drying, respectively. The values of activation energy for microwave and infrared drying were found as 39.135 and 4.482 kW/kg, respectively.