Studying the Drying Kinetics of Fresh-water Crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) on Thin-layers

The drying behaviour of fresh-water crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) was investigated using a laboratory convective oven dryer, with the cabinets arranged in thin-layers. Drying air temperatures ranging from 60 – 100 were applied, varying in multiples of 10  with unregulated laboratory room air velocities. The initial moisture content of all the samples was 85% db. The investigation showed a drying rate profile that increased with increasing drying temperatures. Drying data from the experiments were fitted to seven empirical thin-layer drying models, and the suitability of individual model was validated using statistical parameters (coefficient of determination, (R²); root mean square error, (RMSE) and reduced chi-square )). The Midilli model was found to perform satisfactorily in describing the drying behaviour of the fresh-water crayfish samples at the chosen temperature levels. The final effective moisture diffusivity of the samples during the drying experiments was 6.675 x 10^-10 m²/s, and the temperature related activation energy of diffusion was found to be 28.48 kJ/mol. Drying occurred mainly in the falling rate period, and the characterizing drying curves were exponential with increase in drying temperatures.