Investigating of drying kinetics of lemon verbena leaves in a solar cabinet dryer

مرادی, مهدی and قاسمی ابنوی, جاوید and کارپرورفرد, سیدحسین Investigating of drying kinetics of lemon verbena leaves in a solar cabinet dryer. In: 2nd International and 6th National Iranian Congress on Organic vs. Conventional Agriculture, August 2019, Ardabil, Iran.

Text G-00185-AB.pdf Download (1MB)

Abstract

Proper drying of pharmaceutical plants can increase their shelf time. Lemon verbena leaves with initial moisture content of 240% (dry basis) harvested from farm which in order to present for customers, its moisture content should be reduced to about 10 % (dry basis). There are different methods for dehydration of lemon verbena leaves from which a solar dryer was used in the present research. For evaluation of the solar dryer, a completely randomized design in a factorial form at three replications was performed. Independent factors were as air velocity (2, 2.5, and 3 m/s), air temperature (30, 40, and 50 C), and equivalent diameter of tray mesh size (3, 6, and 10 mm). Measured factor was drying time to reduce moisture content of leaves from 240 % to 10 % (dry basis). Analysis of variance showed significant effect of independent factors on the drying time so that with increase of the air temperature and velocity drying time of the leaves reduced. However, the mesh tray size depending on the other conditions showed different effects on the drying time.

Actions (login required)

View Item