Res. Agr. Eng., 2023, 69(4):159-166 | DOI: 10.17221/72/2022-RAE

Mathematical modeling of drying parameters of moringa oleifera leaves in a cabinet dryeOriginal Paper

Timothy Adekanye^*1,2, Abiodun Okunola^1,3, Olumuyiwa Moses^1,3, Endurance Idahosa¹, Yisa Boye¹, Aminu Saleh⁴

¹ Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, College of Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria

² Landmark University SDG 1 (No Poverty Research Group), Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria

³ Landmark University SDG 2 (Zero Hunger Research Group), Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria

⁴ Department of Agricultural and Bio-Resources Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

This study focused on drying moringa leaves using a cabinet dryer. The impact of the 40, 50, and 60 °C drying air temperatures on the moisture content of the leaves at a constant air velocity with variation in weight (40, 80, and 120 g) was considered. Ten drying models were fitted to the drying data to describe the drying parameters of moringa leaves. The best model was chosen based on the highest coefficient of determination (R²), and the lowest sum of square error (SSE) and root mean square error (RMSE) values. The Henderson and Pabis model best described the drying characteristics of the moringa leaves having the highest R² (0.9888) and lowest SSE (0.0401) and RMSE (0.0604). The effective moisture diffusivity increased with the temperatures ranging from 8.72 × 10^–9 to 1.40 × 10^–8 m²·s^–1. The activation energy ranged from 90.4636, 40.4884, and 22.7466 KJ·mol^–1 for 40, 80, and 120 g, respectively.

Keywords: agriculture; coefficient of determination; drying temperature; moisture diffusivity; thin layer drying

Accepted: June 14, 2023; Prepublished online: October 31, 2023; Published: November 30, 2023  Show citation