Theoretical and experimental investigation of temperature and moisture distributions and changes in nutritional quality during Intermittent Microwave Convective Drying

Intermittent microwave convective drying (IMCD) is an advanced drying system where a unique volumetric heating mode is facilitated. However, the physical phenomena of IMCD system and its effect on nutritional quality are not well understood yet. The aim of this research is to develop a coupled IMCD and quality prediction model and experimentaslly validate it. A coupled 3D mathematical model considering Maxwell's equation for electromagnetic heating, and reaction kinetics for predicting quality was developed and validated. COMSOL Multiphysics, engineering software was used to solve the developed model. It is found that IMCD significantly affect the nutritional quality during drying of apple tissue. (Author)