Mathematical modeling of convective air drying of quinoa-supplemented feed for laboratory rats

• Main Authors: Antonio Vega-Gálvez, Alexies Dagnino-Subiabre, Gonzalo Terreros, Jessica López, Margarita Miranda, Karina Di Scala
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Tecnologia do Paraná (Tecpar) 2011-02-01
• Series: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Subjects: rat feed; quinoa; drying kinetics; modeling; statistical test
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132011000100021
• ISSN: 1516-8913; 1678-4324

Drying kinetics of quinoa-supplemented feed for laboratory rats during processing at 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90ºC was studied and modeled in this work. Desorption isotherm was obtained at 60ºC giving a monolayer moisture content of 0.04 g water/g d.m. The experimental drying curves showed that drying process took place only in the falling rate period. Several thin-layer drying equations available in the literature were evaluated based on determination coefficient (r²), sum squared errors (SSE) and Chi-square (&#967;2) statisticals. In comparison to the experimental moisture values, the values estimated with the Logarithmic model gave the best fit quality (r² >0.994, SSE < 0.00015 and &#967;2 < 0.00018), showing this equation could predict very accurately the drying time of rat feed under the operative conditions applied.