influence of temperature and air velocity on the canola drying process and its quality

the canola drying process was investigated using three laboratory scale dryers connected to a computer which continuously recorded the drying processes of each unit. a completely randomized design (crd) with three replications was used for the statistical analysis. the effect of temperature (40°, 50°, 60°c) and air velocity (1, 2 m/s) on the drying kinetics of a monolayer were studied. the effective moisture diffusion coefficient (deff), activation energy and percent of free fatty acids were measured for the drying process and dried canola. a drying estimation model was determined using a linear regression model for increasing temperatures. the results indicated that changes in temperature have the greatest effect on canola drying time. increasing the temperature from 40° to 60°c caused the drying time to decrease by 66.4%. changes in air velocity from 1 to 2 m/s reduced drying time 29.4% on average. deff increased from 2.05694×10-8 to 5.8061×10-8 m2 and activation energy from 27.34 to 37.49 kj/mol with a 40° to 60°c increase in temperature. changes of temperature and air velocity did not have adverse effects on canola free fatty acids.