Microwave Drying at Various Conditions Modeled Using the Reaction Engineering Approach (REA)

Abstract

One of the most significant process intensification schemes in drying is microwave drying. Modeling the process of microwave drying is very useful. The lumped reaction engineering approach (REA) is now coupled with appropriate equations for modeling microwave heating. Here, a slight modification of the equilibrium activation energy is needed since the product temperature is higher than the ambient temperature. Unlike the diffusion-based approach, the REA drying parameters were generated from minimum number of drying runs. It has been found that the modifications lead to excellent agreements between the predicted and experimental data. The results of modeling match well with the experimental data. The overall model is accurate to describe the moisture content and temperature profiles. Comparisons with the diffusion-based approach indicate that the REA can achieve comparable or even better agreement towards the experimental data. This exercise has demonstrated that a simple combination of the LREA and the microwave energy absorption is versatile in predicting the microwave drying process accurately, thus this worked example will be illustrative for future needed studies.