فهرست مطالب رضا امیری چایجان

Producing powder from fruit pulp is a good way to prevent the loss of useful properties in the remaining meat from the skin, juice and core of fruits. The physicochemical properties of the powder play an important role in its storage time, customer friendliness and taste.This process was carried out using a vacuum dryer using the atmosphere control method and was checked in terms of drying time and browning index. The dryer is set on a laboratory scale for five temperature levels of 45, 55, 65, 75 and 85 °C and five vacuum pressure levels of 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 kPa for a thickness of 6.5 mm.The statistical analysis of the obtained data and the optimization of the vacuum drying process were performed using the response surface method. The results showed that by increasing the temperature of the drying chamber, the drying rate of apple pulp sheets increased and the drying time decreased by 78.3%. The temperature values of the drying chamber were significant to the color indices of apple pulp powder. The lowest amount of browning index under the conditions of the temperature of the dryer chamber of 45 degrees Celsius and the vacuum pressure of 60 kPa for the vacuum dryer using the atmosphere control method was 100.26. The optimum point of the powder produced from the dried apple pulp sheets was proposed by the vacuum system using the atmosphere control method at the temperature of the drying chamber at 74.83 °Cand the vacuum pressure at 55.9 kPa. Under these conditions, the optimal value of the response variables, including drying time and browning time, were obtained in equal order.

The drying of food can extend the shelf life of food, reduce transportation and storage costs. Fick's second law is commonly used to evaluate the mass data in the drying process in a standard way and is based on many assumptions. Understanding the meaning of mass transfer in products can improve the drying process and product quality. Computational fluid dynamics (cfd) models fluid flow situations utilizing powerful computer and applied mathematics in order to predict mass transfer in industrial processes. The aim of this research was numerical study of the drying behavior of pistachio nut using CFD method and evaluating the numerical results in the bed condition of fluid, semi fluid and fix bed as well as air temperatures of 90, 75, 60 and 45°C. During drying using computational fluid dynamic and the Fluent CFD code, the external flow and temperature fields around the cylindrical object (7.5× 10 millimeter) will be predicted in the numerical analysis.  A laboratory fluid bed dryer was used for drying experiments. The main parts of the dryer are forward radial fan, drying chamber, electrical heater, inverter, temperature controller. The dryer attachment tools are input and output temperature sensors, anemometer and computer. The numerical part was verified and juxtaposed with the experimental data. The numerical solution result at 60, 75 and 90°C were so close to experimental results except for air temperature of 45°C. Mean absolute error in fix bed, at 60, 75 and 90°C were 0.2123, 0.1257 and 0.0337 which were lower than 45°C temperature and R2 values for these temperatures were 0.9903, 0.9705 and 0.9807, respectively. As the temperature decreased, the values of Eabs and X2 increased in all bed conditions. The average value of R2 for all applied bed conditions was 0.9850. This value showed high correlation between experimental and numerical results.

In this study, the effects of freeze and hot air dryings on aroma, vitamin C content and color change of orange slices were studied. The freeze dryer was drying at -50 °C and the hot air dryer at 60 °C. The results showed that the freeze dryer maintained the color quality and aroma of the dried slices similar to the fresh orange slices (fresh oranges L*=48.79, a*=-3.17 and b*=44.25 and freeze dried L*=82.26, a*=-2.71 and b*=50.68) but in the case of hot air dryer, the color quality decreased and browning was occurred (L*=58.09, a*=10.78 and b*=45.51). The highest response of olfactory sensors in fresh orange, freeze dried and hot air dried slices were MQ9, MQ7, and MQ3, respectively, and the lowest response of olfactory sensors in all three slices was MQ6. The biggest difference between the sensors' response was the change in the product's aroma during drying process. The amount of vitamin C in two methods of freezer drying (902.4 mg / 100g) and hot air drying (956.6 mg / 100g) decreased compared to fresh orange slices (1001.3mg / 100g). According to the measured Vitamin C contents, in hot air dried slices the concentration of Vitamin C was higher than that for freeze dried slices.

The tabletting process increases the density of the food. This process also facilitates transportation and reduces transmission and storage costs. In this research, soybean powder was used for tabletting experiments. The effect of the tabletting process on particle density, compressive strength and shrinkage of soybean tablet was studied. The experiments were carried out using soybean powder at feedstock moisture content of 30, 40 and 50% w.b., feedstock temperature 25, 45 and 60 °C, relaxation time of 5, 10 and 15 s, and die diameter of 6, 8 and 10 mm. The response surface method (RSM) with central composite design was also used to analyze the data and optimize the process. The result showed that the highest particle density was 3714.32 kg/mm3 under conditions of the feedstock moisture content of 50% w.b., feedstock temperature of 25 °C, relaxation time of 5 s, and the die diameter of 10 mm. During the tabletting prosses, the highest compressive strength (518.18 N) was obtained at the feedstock moisture content of 50% w.b., feedstock temperature of 65 °C, relaxation time of 5 s, and the die diameter of 6 mm. The highest shrinkage of soybean powder (57%) was obtained at the feedstock moisture content of 50% w.b., feedstock temperature of 65 °C, relaxation time of 15 s, and the die diameter of 6 mm. The best optimization results for tabletting conditions for soybean powder was under feedstock moisture content of 50% w.b., feedstock temperature of 42.03 °C, relaxation time of 5 s and die diameter of 10 mm. The predicted values of particle density, compressive strength and shrinkage at the optimized conditions were 4895.49 kg/mm3, 433.17 N and 9.03% with a desirability of 0.853, respectively.

In this study, an ultrasonic-thermal concentrator under vacuum conditions was fabricated and the effect of concentration variables for watermelon juice concentration was optimized. Concentration temperature process in three levels (40, 50 and 60°C), vacuum pressure in three levels (20, 40 and 60kPa) and ultrasonic waves power in three levels (36, 60 and 84W) were conducted. Statistical analysis of data and optimization of concentration process were performed using response surface method and central composite design. Results showed that the increase of concentration temperature has a positive effect on concentration process time and total energy consumption and negative effect on lycopene content and the total color difference. Decrease of vacuum pressure to caused increased lycopene content and decrease the total color difference, concentration process time and total energy consumption. Also increased ultrasonic waves power caused increase in lycopene content, total color difference, total energy consumption and decrease in concentration process time. Optimization of watermelon juice concentration point was obtained on concentration temperature 40°C, vacuum pressure 20 kPa and ultrasonic waves power 46.5W. Optimal values of response variables in this condition include lycopene content, the total color difference, concentration process time and total energy consumption in equal order 238 mg/kg, 25.7, 94.5 min and 0.727 kWh. The use of ultrasound waves along with the concentration temperature and vacuum pressure could have positive results on the watermelon juice concentration process.

Drying of food tablet is one of the most important peocesses in tablet production that play a vital role in food gradient preservation. In this research, the effect of different conditions of microwave-hot air drying (air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave exposure time) on the qualitative and chemical properties of the compressed tablet produced from tomato powder containing lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were studied. To analyze the data and optimize the process, the response surface method and central composite design were used. Input parameters (independent) were: inlet air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave exposure time. Dependent parameters (responses) were: lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb*. For drying samples, five levels of air temperatures (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C), air velocity (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 m/s) and microwave exposure time (0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 seconds) were applied. The amounts of lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity, ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were achievd between 865 to 2205.6 mg.100gDM-1, 0 to 0.88 mgascorbic/gDM, 0.36 to 8.9 mg GAE/g DM, 34.95 to 99.02%, 12.89 to 18.98, 5.35 to 14.609 and 6.78 to 13.21, respectively. The optimum drying point of the at air temperature of 50 °C, air velocity of 1.07 m/s and microwave exposore time of 4 seconds were obtained and the response variable values in the optimal point containing lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were obtained 434.7 mg/100gDM,0.66 mgascorbic/gDM, 7.78 mg GAE/g DM, %50.11, 14.76, 8.49 and 7.61, respectively. Results indicated that the drying under lower temperature (50°C) and lower exposore time of microwave radiation (4 seconds) with fixed power (90 W) caused to further ingredient materials preservation and increasing in desirability index. Drying of food tablet is one of the most important peocesses in tablet production that play a vital role in food gradient preservation. In this research, the effect of different conditions of microwave-hot air drying (air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave exposure time) on the qualitative and chemical properties of the compressed tablet produced from tomato powder containing lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were studied. To analyze the data and optimize the process, the response surface method and central composite design were used. Input parameters (independent) were: inlet air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave exposure time. Dependent parameters (responses) were: lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb*. For drying samples, five levels of air temperatures (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C), air velocity (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 m/s) and microwave exposure time (0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 seconds) were applied. The amounts of lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity, ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were achievd between 865 to 2205.6 mg.100gDM-1, 0 to 0.88 mgascorbic/gDM, 0.36 to 8.9 mg GAE/g DM, 34.95 to 99.02%, 12.89 to 18.98, 5.35 to 14.609 and 6.78 to 13.21, respectively. The optimum drying point of the at air temperature of 50 °C, air velocity of 1.07 m/s and microwave exposore time of 4 seconds were obtained and the response variable values in the optimal point containing lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were obtained 434.7 mg/100gDM,0.66 mgascorbic/gDM, 7.78 mg GAE/g DM, %50.11, 14.76, 8.49 and 7.61, respectively. Results indicated that the drying under lower temperature (50°C) and lower exposore time of microwave radiation (4 seconds) with fixed power (90 W) caused to further ingredient materials preservation and increasing in desirability index. Drying of food tablet is one of the most important peocesses in tablet production that play a vital role in food gradient preservation. In this research, the effect of different conditions of microwave-hot air drying (air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave exposure time) on the qualitative and chemical properties of the compressed tablet produced from tomato powder containing lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were studied. To analyze the data and optimize the process, the response surface method and central composite design were used. Input parameters (independent) were: inlet air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave exposure time. Dependent parameters (responses) were: lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb*. For drying samples, five levels of air temperatures (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C), air velocity (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 m/s) and microwave exposure time (0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 seconds) were applied. The amounts of lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity, ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were achievd between 865 to 2205.6 mg.100gDM-1, 0 to 0.88 mgascorbic/gDM, 0.36 to 8.9 mg GAE/g DM, 34.95 to 99.02%, 12.89 to 18.98, 5.35 to 14.609 and 6.78 to 13.21, respectively. The optimum drying point of the at air temperature of 50 °C, air velocity of 1.07 m/s and microwave exposore time of 4 seconds were obtained and the response variable values in the optimal point containing lycopene content, concentration of vitamin C, total phenol content, antioxidant activity and color indices of ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were obtained 434.7 mg/100gDM,0.66 mgascorbic/gDM, 7.78 mg GAE/g DM, %50.11, 14.76, 8.49 and 7.61, respectively. Results indicated that the drying under lower temperature (50°C) and lower exposore time of microwave radiation (4 seconds) with fixed power (90 W) caused to further ingredient materials preservation and increasing in desirability index.

Introduction:

 Edible Button Mushroom (Agaricusbisporus) is one of the crops that is widely used today as a food source. Mushrooms after harvesting due to high humidity, high respiration rate, lack of cuticle and severe enzymatic activity, with persistence and quickly than other vegetables rot and discoloration begins immediately after harvest. To increase shelf life, edible mushroom must undergo processing processes. Drying is one of the most common methods of processing and preserving edible mushrooms. Vacuum-infrared drying is conducted by lowering moisture at low pressure to improve the quality of the high nutritional value product. Since button mushrooms have many applications due to their high nutritional value and medicinal uses, the best drying mode should be chosen to have the least negative effect on the quality properties and ingredients of the powder.

Materials and Methods :

Fresh edible button mushroom After washing were cut by a cutter at 5 mm thickness and dried using a vacuum-infrared dryer at three temperature levels of 40, 55 and 70 ° C and three vacuum pressure levels of 20, 40 and 60 kPa. Then the dried mushroom slices were milled and powdered using a mill machine for one minute. To homogenize the particle size, the button mushroom powder was sifted by a laboratory sieve with mesh No. 50 (cavity size 0.5 mm).In this study, the effect of vacuum-infrared drying variables including indoor air temperature and vacuum pressure on the thermal properties (effective moisture diffusion coefficient and drying energy consumption) of  button mushroom and chemical (total phenol content) and qualitative (color indices as ΔL *, Δa * and Δb*) button mushroom powders were studied. Statistical analysis of data and optimization of drying process were performed using response surface methodology and central composite design (CCD). After determining the optimum point of vacuum-infrared dryer, loose and compacted bulk density, work index, Hassner ratio, angle of repose, and button mushroom powder slides were measured at optimum point and Finally the flow-ability of the edible button mushroom powder was determined.

Results and Discussion:

 The results showed that as the chamber temperature increased, the rate of evaporation of tissue moisture increased, which resulted in a decrease in the drying time of the edible button mushroom thin layers with vacuum-infrared dryer. Effective moisture diffusion coefficient of drying of edible button mushroom thin films ranging from 1.8 ×10-9 m2/s (40 kPa pressure and temperature 40 °C) to 8.9×10-9 m2/s (20 kPa pressure and 70 °C temperature) was varied. The results showed that the air temperature of the drying chamber had a positive effect on the effective moisture diffusion coefficient. This is because increasing energy and heat consumption increased the activity of water molecules and, as a result, more moisture penetrated outside the product at higher temperatures. The maximum amount of specific energy consumption was 1269.73 MJ/kg (60 kPa pressure and 40 ° C) and the lowest amount was 408.36 MJ/kg (40 kPa pressure and 70 °C). The results showed that at constant pressure with increasing temperature, as the drying time decreased sharply, the amount of specific energy consumption also decreased. The phenolic content of button mushroom powder was in the range of 270 mg/g (20 kPa pressure and 40 ° C) and 1.3 mg/g (40 kPa pressure and 70 ° C). As the temperature increased, the total phenol content decreased. The results showed that increasing the temperature caused a greater difference between the color indices of L*, a * and b* of button mushroom powder than fresh mushroom. Increase in temperature caused more darkening (decrease in L* index), decrease in redness (decrease in index a*) and decrease in yellowness (decrease in index b*) of mushroom powder. In general, color indices were closer to the values of fresh fungal samples at low temperatures. The optimum drying point of button mushroom was obtained at 40° C and vacuum pressure of 40.823 kPa. The optimum value of the independent variables including effective moisture diffusion coefficient, specific drying energy consumption, total phenol content and final color indices of edible button mushroom ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were 3.06×10-9 m2/s, 1088 MJ/kg, 2.76 mg/g, 15.28, 2.55 and 9.26, respectively. The results showed that drying under lower temperature and medium vacuum pressure increased the desirability index. The flow-ability of edible button mushroom powder was reported to be good.

Conclusion:

 According to the results of drying tests of edible mushrooms, the following results of this study are obtained in infrared vacuum drying: 1- The effect of air temperature on all variables of button mushroom response was significant in vacuum-infrared dryer. 2- The air inlet temperature to the dryer had a negative effect on the specific energy consumption of the drying process and the total phenol content of the button mushroom powder. 3- Increase in air temperature caused a greater difference between the color indices of L*, a* and b* button mushroom powder than fresh mushrooms. 4. The results showed that drying under mild conditions (lower temperature and medium vacuum pressure) increased the desirability index. 5-Flow-ability of edible button mushroom powder was reported to be good.

In this study, optimum drying conditions of compressed tablet tomato under vacuum-infrared conditions were determined to produce tablet with appropriate chemical and qualitative properties. The content of lycopene, total phenol, vitamin C concentration, antioxidant activity as chemical properties and color indices ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* were studied as qualitative properties. Drying process of samples was performed at five levels of air temperature of the compartment 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C and five vacuum pressures 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 kPa. Statistical analysis of data and optimization of drying process were performed using response surface methodology. The results showed that in vacuum-infrared drying, as the temperature of the dryer chamber increased, the concentration of vitamin C and total phenol content of tomato tablet decreased and lycopene content and antioxidant activity of tomato tablet increased. Also, increasing temperature increased the difference between the color indices L* and a* and reduced the difference between the color index b* compared to fresh tomatoes. The optimum point the drying process of tomato tablet was obtained at 56 °C and vacuum pressure of 30 kPa. The reduction rates of vitamin C concentration, lycopene content, and total phenol content of dried tomato tablets in optimal condition were 54.3, 2.6 and 29.62 percent, respectively. Drying at lower temperature increased the model's desirability index obtained by response surface methodology.

In this study, the effect of effective variables of moisture content, particle size, type of adhesive and tablet shape on the qualitative properties (difference of color indices ΔL*, Δa* and Δb*), physical (unit density and shrinkage) and mechanical (diffusion force) indices of compressed tablets made from tomato powder were studied. Independent variables were including three levels of particle size of tomato powder (particles smaller than 0.3 mm, particles ranging from 0.3 to 0.75 mm and particles larger than 0.75 mm), three levels of moisture content (18, 36 and d.b. 54%), three forms of compressed pills (spherical, cylindrical and cubic), three types of adhesive (55% fructose syrup, water and sugar). For optimization, the surface response and Di-optimal method were used. The results showed that optimum spot was obtained for compressed pills consisting of tomato powder with a moisture content of %33.4 db, particle size of fructose 0.3 mm, and cylindrical tablet form, dried in oven at 60 ° C. Under these conditions, the desirability index was 0.826, and the optimal value of the independent variables ΔL*, Δa* and Δb* (the difference of color indices with fresh tomatoes), penetration force, unit density and shrinkage were 35.89, 15.6, 23.23, 267.2 N, 2299 kg/m3 and %12.2, respectively.

Tomato is one of the most valuable sources of minerals and vitamins supply in the human diet. Low shelf life of tomato and its short shelf life with inadequate processing facilities lead to heavy financial losses. Therefore, preserving and processing of tomato are of the commercial importance. Drying is one of the preferred methods for tomato preservation. Dried tomato products including half tomatoes, tomato slices and tomato powder, have many consumptions, compared with other tomato products. Among dried tomato products, tomato powder has a particular market. Powder production is an alternative method to extend the shelf life of foods. Usually the fruit powder is very dry, humidity absorber and has too much volume. Therefore, during storage, transportation and administration, it requires special care and heavy packaging which increase the cost. To overcome these problems, compression of the fruit powder in tablet form could be a proper solution. Tablet making of fruit powder has gained much popularity due to its ease of use, storage, transportation and product formulation. After the tablet making process, the pills contain high moisture contentwhich makes them un-suitable for transportation and storage. So, in order to prevent the tablets corruption and maintain their quality, tablet drying is one of the important steps after the tablet making process. The drying process is an important operation that affects the quality and final price of the product. Different drying methods play an important role in protecting foodstuffs. However, the effect of different drying methods on the quality of some foodstuffs is not clear.

In this research, after the preparation of fresh tomatoes, the primary moisture content of tomatoes was determined using hot air oven method. Then, using blanching method, the tomatoes were peeled and samples were cut using a sharp razor in thicknesses of 3 mm. Tomato slices were dried using a semi-industrial dryer in a hot air at 50 °C at an air speed of 1 m/s. Dried tomato slices were powdered using a grinder. In order to homogenize the particle size, the tomato powder was sieved by a 50 mesh (Cavity size 0.5 mm) sample. Suitable moisture content to create sufficient adhesion between the particles of tomato powder was selected at %23 d.b. Water and fructose were used as a bonding agent. The process of producing tomato spherical tablets was performed by a hydraulic press. Drying tests of wet compressed tablets were performed immediately after the end of the tabletting process using a hot air drying machine with microwave pre-treatment. In this study, the effect of drying variables,through using of  microwave pre-treatment along with hot air, including air temperature in five levels (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C), air velocity at five levels (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 m/s) and the duration of microwave application at five levels (zero (without microwave), 4, 8, 12, and 16 s) on physical properties (shrinkage and unit density), mechanical (penetration resistance) and thermal (Effective moisture diffusivity and energy consuming drying) of compact pomegranate produced from tomato powder were studied. Statistical analysis of data and optimization of drying process were performed using response surface method and central composite design.

Results showed that effect of air temperature and duration of microwave pretreatment on all variables of compressed tomato tablets were significant in hot air dryers with microwave pre-treatment. Increasing temperature and time of microwave pre-treatment increased the effective moisture diffusivity and shrinkage of the final product. The temperature of the air inlet to the dryer had a negative effect on the resistance to penetration, the unit density and the specific energy consumption of the drying process. Drying under lower temperature conditions and less time for microwave pre-treatment resulted in an increase in the desirability of the drying process

No study has been reported about magnetic fields effects on properties of agricultural products in the postharvest stage. In this research a static and dynamic magnetic fields apparatus was fabricated and then the field effects with magnetic flux densities of 2784 and 8240 G and magnetic time of 1 and 12 h on total soluble solids, pH, total antioxidant capacity and total phenolic compounds of pomegranate arils were investigated. Between chemical indicators, the effect of magnetic field on the total antioxidant capacity of pomegranate arils was significant. Dynamic magnetic field with flux density of 8240 G and time of 1 h caused %13/32 increase in antioxidant capacity. But magnetic time of 12 h caused %11/08 decrease in antioxidant capacity. Finally the effect of dynamic magnetic field was more than static magnetic field and magnetic flux density of 8240 G was more than 2784 G.

Degradation of nutrients and change in the food quantity occur during the food processing; so, the food quality and retention nutrients are of the most important aspects of food processing. In this research, the effect of tomato slices drying process on the kinetics of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) degradation, color changes (L *, a * and b * ) and the specific energy consumption in order to produce tomato powder was investigated during the hot air drying at 45, 60 and 75 °C.  This tomato powder was used to produce tomato compact tablets.  Also, the effect of tomato dough moisture content (25, 40 and 55 %d.b.) and drying temperature of  wet tomato tablet (30, 40 and 50 °C) on vitamin C concentration (as an indicator for retain nutritional) was investigated during the compression and  convective drying processes. The results showed that the drying temperature and moisture content had a significant effect on the retention of vitamin C concentration (product health) when the fresh tomato processing and the production of compact tablet were going on. Drying under lower temperatures and moisture contents helps to retain quality and nutritional value (less degradation of vitamin C) of tomato tablets.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is an important Allium crop in the world. Due to its therapeutic properties, it was cultivated in many countries. Furthermore, garlic is usually used as a flavoring agent; it may be used in the shape of powder or granule as a valuable condiment for foods. In addition to its use in food products, it was also widely used as an anticancer agent. Shallot (Allium hiertifolium Boiss. L) is a perennial and bulbous plant. It is from Alliaceae family and is an important medicinal plant. The shallot is native of Iran, and grows in the high pastures. Shallot is consumed in dry areas in most parts of the country. Also shallots have been well known in Iranian folk medicine and its bulbs have been widely used for treating rheumatic and inflammatory disorders. In addition, this plant is used in the preparation of significant amounts of potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sodium, pickles and as an additive to yogurt and pickles. ANN as a modern approach has successfully been used to solve an extensive variety of problems in the science and engineering, exclusively for some space where the conventional modeling procedure fail. A well-trained ANN can be used as a predictive model for a special use, which is a data processing system inspired by biological neural system. When mathematical equations are difficult to extrapolate, and fuzzy logic is better when decisions must be made with the estimated values below the incomplete information. The fuzzy logic theory effectively addresses the uncertainty problems that solve the ambiguity. The aim of this study was to predict moisture ratio of garlic and shallot during the drying process with fluidized bed dryer using mathematical model, artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic methods. Tests were carried out on three levels of inlet air temperature (40, 55 and 70 °C) and three inlet air velocities (0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 m/s). To estimate the drying kinetic of garlic and shallot, five mathematical models were used to fit the experimental data of thin layer drying. Three factors (air temperature, air velocity and drying time) to forecast moisture ratio in fluidized bed dryer as independent variables for artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic was considered. Cascade forward back propagation (CFBP) and feed forward back propagation (FFBP) with Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), Bayesian learning (BR) algorithms for ANN and the Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System using triangular membership function were used for training patterns. Consequently, the Page and Midilli et al. model was selected as the best mathematical model to describe the drying kinetics of the garlic and shallot slices, respectively. The results of artificial neural networks model for predicting MR showed that the R2 of 0.9994 and 0.9996; and and RMSE of 0.0036 and 0.0014 were obtained for garlic and shallot, respectively. Also, The fuzzy inference system presented the R2 of 0.9997 and 0.9998; and and RMSE of 0.0027 and 0.0011 for garlic and shallot, respectively. Comparing the results obtained from mathematical models, artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic, showed that the RMSE in the fuzzy logic was lower than artificial neural network and mathematical models. Three factors (air temperature, air velocity and drying time) were considered for forecasting moisture ratio in fluidized bed dryer as independent variables using mathematical model, artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic. Cascade forward back propagation (CFBP) and feed forward back propagation (FFBP) with Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), Bayesian learning (BR) algorithms and the Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System using triangular membership function were used for training the patterns. Comparing the results obtained from mathematical models, artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic, showed that the root mean square error in fuzzy logic was lower than others.

Powder production from agricultural products that cultivated in large area is important to prevent losses in harvesting time and changing harvested material to valuable product with longer shelf life. The aim of this study was to optimize the drying of watermelon juice in a radiant spray dryer using response surface methodology (RSM). Experiments were conducted in three levels of air temperatures (60, 75 and 90 °C) and three levels of maltodextrin concentration (5, 7.5 and 10% w/v) as an additive material. Dependent parameters were lycopene value, color change, pH, solubility, moisture content, bulk density and antioxidant capacity. Coefficient of determination for prediction of lycopene value, color change, solubility, moisture content and antioxidant capacity were derived 98.70, 94.19, 96.27, 98.50 and 98.71, respectively. With respect to the desired conditions in this research (the lowest change in color and the highest value for lycopene, solubility and antioxidant capacity), the optimized condition with RSM for air temperature, maltodextrin concentration, lycopene value, color change, solubility, moisture content and antioxidant capacity were 79.67 °C, 5% (w/v), 24.84 mg/100g, 37.86, 35.12%, 26.58% (d.b.) and 25.05%, respectively.

Eggplant (Solanum melongenaL.) is being cultivated in North America, Asia and the Mediterranean area. Its limited shelf life is one of the important restrictions in the trade of eggplant as a fresh product. Drying is one of the most current methods used to maintenance agricultural products. This process improves the food stability, since it reduces significantly the water and microbiological activity of the material and minimizes physical and chemical changes during its storage. Dynamic modeling of drying characteristics for various agricultural products, including artificial intelligence techniques that include artificial neural networks (ANNs), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and grey wolf optimizer (GWO) Which has attracted a lot of attention recently, because the ability to learn from these systems to detect fruit and vegetable behaviors is a complex process in which mathematical models simply do not apply in recent decades. The main objective of this research was to determine the effective moisture diffusivity, and specific energy consumption of eggplant slices with a semi-industrial continuous band dryer. Moreover, some novel methods including ANN, PSO and GWO as an approximating tools were developed and evaluated for prediction of Deff and SEC of the process. Freshly harvested eggplant were purchased from a local market and stored in the refrigerator at about 4°C for experiments. The initial moisture content of eggplant was determined by oven method. About 40 g of eggplant slice (4 mm thickness) with three replicates were dried at 70°C for 24 h. Eggplant slice with average initial moisture content of 10.25% (d.b.) was chosen as the drying material.
The dryer consists of an adjustable centrifugal blower, hot air suction tube, heater, control panel, air channel to uniform distribution of hot air, drying chamber, Belt (20 cm, 200 cm), three inverters (LS, Korea), temperature and humidity sensors, electrical motor, removable upper part, base, shafts, three infrared lamps (Philips, Belgium) and belt guide. The experiments were performed at air temperatures of 45, 60, and 75C, air velocities of 1, 1.5, and 2 m/s, and belt linear speeds of 2.5, 6.5, and 10.5 mm/s. Feed and cascade forward neural networks were used in this study. There are two types of multilayer perceptron neural network. Two training algorithms including LevenbergMarquardt (LM) and Bayesian regulation (BR) back propagation algorithms were used for updating network weights. The PSO is a simple, powerful and metaheuristic technique that can be applied to solve optimization problems. In the PSO model, every solution is showed as a particle that is alike to a bird flying via the space of a potential solution. In order to mathematically model the social governance of wolves when designing Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), assume the fittest solution as the alpha ( ). Consequently, the second and third best solutions are named beta ( ) and delta ( ), respectively. In the present study, the application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and grey wolf optimizer (GWO) for predicting the and was investigated. Based on several statistical operates [such as coefficient of correlation ( ) and mean-square error ( ), mean absolute error ( )], for predicting and was found that the GWO ( =0.9915, =0.9986, Respecively) performs better than the PSO (with =0.9927, =0.9890) and ANN (with = 0.9618, =0.9773) models. Drying behavior of eggplant slices at different air temperatures of 45, 60, and 75C, air velocities of 1, 1.5, and 2 m/s and belt linear speeds of 2.5, 6.5, and 10.5 mm/s was studied. The moisture ratio was reduced exponentially with drying time as expected. When the temperature was increased, the drying time eggplant fruit reduced. In other words, at high temperatures, the transfer of heat and mass was higher and the water loss was more excessive. Effective moisture diffusivity and specific energy consumption were calculated after drying of turnip fruit. Maximum values of for eggplant were 1.14×10-8 m2/s. The lowest amount specific energy consumption ( ) was calculated at the boundary of 130.62 MJ/kg.

The artichoke is part of the foods from the vegetable group that provide important nutrients like vitamin A and C, potassium and fiber which used as a food and medicine. In the pharmaceutical sector, dried extracts are used in the preparation of pills and capsules. Dried extracts can be prepared from the dehydration of a concentrated extractive solution from herbal materials (leaves, roots, seeds, etc.), resulting in a dried powder. The spray drying is widely used in the preparation of dried powders from extracts of medicinal plants, fruit pulps. One of the newly developed spray drying techniques is an ultrasonic vacuum method, which strengths of spray drying by incorporation of ultrasonic atomizer and vacuum chamber. Nowadays, image processing has been applied to food images, as acquired by different microscopic systems, to obtain numerical data about the morphology and microstructure of the analyzed foods. For this purpose, microscopy and image processing techniques could be considered as proper tools to evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively the food microstructure, making possible to carry out numerical correlations between microstructure data, as obtained from the images, and the textural properties of food powders. The textural characteristics of the obtained dried powders are determined by means of a perfect detection by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) pictures, and analyzed with a statistical approach for image texture studies, which calls the gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) technique. The object of this study was to illustrate the application of image processing to the study of texture properties from extract powder using GLCM texture analysis and some vacuum spray dryer conditions effect on the texture features of mass particles and single particle SEM images.
After preparing water extract solution from artichoke leaves, extracts were dried under four conditions of vacuum spray drying (according to Table 1). To study the texture of the obtained dried extract powders, different representative features are extracted from the GLCM matrix. The angular second moment (ASM), which is defined as a measure of the homogeneity of the image, the contrast parameter (CT), which represents the amount of local variations given by differences in the gray values in the image. The correlation value (CR), which is a measure of gray tone linear dependencies in the image depending on the direction of the measure (different θs). The inverse difference moment value (IDM), which, similar to ASM, quantifies the homogeneity of the image, however, using a different equation, the entropy parameter (ET), which is a measure that is inversely related to the order given by the gray tones in the image. Rangefilt and stdfilt calculates the local range and local standard deviation of an image respectively. Entropyfilt calculates the local entropy of a grayscale image also. Parameters (ASM, CT, CR and IDM were analyzed in four directions (0º, 45º, 90º, and 135º).
The results of analysis of variance showed that, the difference between the textural features of a single particle and mass particles in four different conditions vacuum spray dryer was significant statistically. Texture analysis was demonstrated that larger ASM, CR, and IDM values indicate less roughness, whereas larger CT and ET values indicate more roughness. At lower inlet temperature and higher vacuum pressure, water diffusion in the material to be slower and allowing the deformation process in the particles to be more pronounced. Consequently, it was possible to observe that generated smaller particles are rougher and less spherical. When the concentration is increased, due to the constant concentration of the additive, the ratio of excipient (lactose) to extraction decreased, as a result were formed a greater number of particles with rougher surfaces. According to these conditions, the values of CT, ET, rangefilt and stdfilt were larger while ASM, CR, and IDM values were smaller. By analyzing the effect of the angle on the oriented textural characteristics, the contrast and correlation parameter were maximum at the angles of 45 and 135 degrees and 0 and 90 degrees respectively.
Image processing could be auxiliary tools for understanding and characterizing complex systems such as food and biological materials. In this study imaging-based technique was developed to evaluate the texture properties of artichoke leaf extract powder at different conditions of vacuum spray drying. The use of higher temperatures and lower vacuum pressures contributed to faster evaporation rate and production of smoother and larger particles, thereby increasing ASM, CR, and IDM values and reducing CT, ET, Rangefilt and stdfilt. Furthermore, the contrast and entropy parameters showed inverse trends in comparison with correlation, energy and homogeneity. Decrease of solution concentration resulted in the more presence of lactose in the composition of extract/excipient improves the textural properties of powders. The direction parameter had also affected on GLCM textural features. Two oriented textural characteristics (contrast and correlation) also showed significant differences with respect to the nature of particle texture in different directions of measurement. The obtained data extracted from image analysis may provide valuable information to understand the role of structure with respect to product functionality.

In this study, ultrasonic vacuum spray dryer was used to produce a dried powder of artichoke leaves extract.The drying process was performed in a vacuumed drying chamber at a lower temperature than the conventional spray dryers. The effects of independent variables (inlet temperature of 55-75 °C, vacuum pressure of 20-40 kPa, and solution concentration of 2-3%) were investigated on the functional (moisture content, particle size, bulk and tapped densities, flowability, and cohesiveness), reconstitution (wettability, dispersibility, and solubility) and chemical properties (total phenol content and DPPH scavening activity) of artichoke leaves extract powder with monohydrate lactose as a carrier in order to achieve the high process yield and desirable properties.The powders produced with the solution concentration of 3% showed the highest mean diameter of particle, bulk, and tapped densities, wetting angle (decreasing wettability) and total phenol content (TPC), while the values of dispersibility and solubility were the lowest. The increase in the inlet temperature and decrease in the vacuum pressure resulted in the particles with lower moisture content, bulk, and tapped densities as well as higher dispersibility and solubility. Chemical properties were influenced by the vacuum pressure and inlet temperature variables, both in a negative manner. The key results indicated that the solution concentration of 3%, inlet air temperature of 75 °C, and vacuum pressure of 20 kPa were the best conditions for artichoke leaves extract drying under the vacuum spray drying conditions.

In this study, the drying properties of Azar variety of almond kernels in a semi industrial continuous dryer with microwave pretreatment were investigated. The aim of this research work was study the effects of air temperature, microwave power and belt linear speed on drying process of almond kernel. Three drying air temperatures (45, 60, 75 °C), three microwave powers (270, 450 and 630 W) and three belt speeds (2.5, 6.5 and 10.5 mm/s) were applies under constant air velocity of 1.5 m/s. Seven mathematical models were fitted to the experimental data of almond kernels drying. The results indicated that the Midilli et al. model had the best performance. The highest values of effective moisture diffusivity (4.73×10-9 m2/s) achieved at air temperature of 75°C, microwave power of 630 W and belt speed of 10.5 mm/s and the lowest value (4.96×10-10 m2/s) at air temperature of 45°C, microwave power of 270 W and belt speed of 2.5 mm/s. The activation energy for almond kernels was between 10.29 and 28.15 kJ/mol. The highest and lowest values of specific energy consumption were 83.17 and 8.17 GJ/kg, respectively. Maximum and minimum values of shrinkage were 10.86% and 6.12%, respectively, computed. The highest and lowest values of total color change were 9.46 and 4.76, respectively. Based on the quality indices, it is recommended to achieve the least values of shrinkage and color changes, the almond kernels will be dry in air temperature of 45 °C, microwave power of 270 W and belt speed of 6.5 mm/s.

In this study, hazelnut kernels were dried in an infrared dryer with microwave pretreatment. To determine the optimization conditions of the hazelnut samples, response surface methodology and central composite design were used to investigate the effect of temperature levels (45, 65 and 85 ° C), infrared power levels (500, 1000 and 1500 W) and microwave power levels (270, 450 and 630 W) on drying of hazelnut kernels. The adequacy and accuracy of the fitted models (Lack of Fit and R2) were checked with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Response surfaces and contour plots were created to show the interaction between the independent and the response variables. Based on the experiments, the optimum conditions for the highest values of effective moisture diffusivity and L* (color index) and the lowest values of consumption energy, shrinkage and a*, b* (color indices) were determined at air temperature of 45°C, microwave power of 470.86 W and infrared power of 1316.72 W. The optimum values of the response variables affecting the effective moisture diffusivity, consumption energy, shrinkage, L*, a* and b* were obtained 2.35×10-9 m2 s-1, 2.65 kWh, 12.94%, 54.10, 14.97 and 16.70, respectively.

Most of agricultural products are harvested in high moisture level which is not suitable for storage. Therefore, to prevent deterioration, drying operations are performed on them. In this study, hazelnut kernels were dried in an infrared fluidized bed dryer. To determine the optimized conditions of the hazelnut samples, response surface methodology and Face-Centered Central Composite Design (Face-CCD) were used to investigate the effect of temperature levels (45, 65 and 85 °C), air velocity levels (1.30, 3.09 and 4.87 m/s) and infrared power levels (500, 1000 and 1500 W) under infrared fluidized bed dryer. The adequacy and accuracy of the fitted models (lack of fit and R2) were checked with analysis of variance (ANOVA). Response surfaces and contour plots were created to show the interaction between the independent variables and the response variables (effective moisture diffusivity, consumption energy, shrinkage and the total color difference). Based on the experiments, the optimum conditions for the maximum values of effective moisture diffusivity and minimize values of consumption energy, shrinkage and ∆E (total color difference) were applied. According to the results in infrared fluidized bed dryer, the optimum conditions were determined at air temperature of 48.96°C, air velocity of 1.53 m/s and infrared power of 500W. The optimum values of the response variables affecting the effective moisture diffusivity, consumption energy, shrinkage and the total color difference (∆E) were obtained 3.13×10-10 m2/s, 18.76 kWh, 11.17% and 3.71, respectively.

The objective of this research was the predication of effective moisture diffusivity, energy consumption, drying rate and moisture ratio in fluidized bed dryer of pomegranate, grape and terebinth by using artificial neural network approach. The effective factor to predict the effective moisture diffusivity and specific energy consumption were: product type, air velocity and air temperature. Four factors were used to predict the drying rate and moisture ratio as: Product type, air velocity, air temperature and time. A lot of 27 tests were conducted by a laboratory fluidized bed dryer to created training set for effective moisture diffusivity and specific energy consumption and 2165 tests for drying rate and moisture ratio. Several network and algorithms were used to train and evaluate the patterns. The best neural network feed forward back-propagation topology for the prediction of effective moisture diffusivity and energy consumption were 3-5-5-2 with the training algorithm of Levenberg-Marquardt (LM). This structure is capable to predict effective moisture diffusivity and specific energy consumption With R2= 0.9954 and 0.9805, respectively and mean-square error of 0.00009. Also the highest R2 values to predict the drying rate and moisture ratio were 0.9799 and 0.9996 respectively.

Short and medium infrared radiation implemented as an energy source in drying process under vacuum conditions. Any comparative study was not carried out between these two energy sources in drying process of agricultural products. In this study, effects of short and medium wave of infrared were evaluated and compared on drying behavior of peach slices under vacuum condition. Drying of the samples was implemented under both the energy sources at the absolute pressures of 20, 40 and 60 kPa and drying temperatures of 50, 60 and 70°C. Drying behavior of peach slices as well as the effect of drying conditions on moisture loss trend, effective diffusion coefficient, color and shrinkage of peach slices, dried in an infrared-vacuum dryer were examined. Effective diffusion coefficient of peach slices under medium wave infrared at different drying conditions was more than short wave infrared in the ranges of 2.6×10-11 to 1.4×10-10 m2/s. Total color difference and shrinkage of peach slices under short wave infrared at different drying conditions was less than medium wave infrared in the range of 6.6 to 8.7 and 7.8% to 9.7%, respectively. Minimum total color difference of peach slices under short and medium wave of infrared were obtained 8.2 and 14.8 and minimum shrinkage of peach slices under short and medium wave infrared were achieved 46.7% and 55.9% respectively.

In this research the effect of different drying conditions of microwave fluidized bed (inlet air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave power) on drying time, effective moisture diffusivity, shrinkage and total energy consumption of pistachio kernel was studied. Data analysis and optimization of drying process of pistachio were conducted by response surface method and central composite design. Input (independent) parameters were: inlet air temperature, inlet air velocity and microwave power. Dependent (output or response) variables were: drying time, effective moisture diffusivity, shrinkage and total energy consumption. The primary moisture content of pistachio kernels has been determined 0.569 (d.b.). Drying of the kernels was performed at three levels of air velocity (1.16, 3.32 and 8.48 m/s), three levels of input air temperature (40, 55 and 70°C) and three levels of microwave power (220, 330 and 440W). The obtained effective drying time, moisture diffusivity, shrinkage and total energy consumption of pistachio ranged between 1.2 to 3.83 h, 2.7×10-10 to 1.32×10-09 m2/s, 12.01% to 35.43% and 0.337 to 1.63 kWh, respectively. The optimum point occurred at air temperature of 38.48˚C, air velocity of 1.16 m/s and microwave power of 440 W. Response variable values for drying of Akbari cultivar of pistachio with fluidized bed microwave dryer at this point were drying time of 2.677 h, effective moisture diffusivity of 5.179×10-10, shrinkage percent of 18.41% and total energy consumption of 0.7109 kWh.

Almond (Amygdales Communist L.) is a perennial plant growing in the cold and xeric environments of Iran. The kernels of almond form an important source of energy and protein. An infrared- vacuum dryer with microwave pretreatment benefits includes high mass transfer coefficients and high quality and the appropriate control on dryer conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of air temperature, microwave power and vacuum pressure in drying process of almond kernels and calculate the effective moisture diffusivity, activation energy, energy consumption, shrinkage and color changes.
Fresh almond kernels were obtained from a field located in Asadabad (Hamedan Province), Iran and stored in a refrigerator at 4±1˚C for experiments. The initial moisture content of almond kernels was determined by drying of 10 g of sample in an oven at 105±1°C until constant weight was attained. In this study, the drying properties of almond kernels with moisture content of 47% (d.b.) in an infrared- vacuum dryer with microwave pretreatment were investigated. Three levels of air temperatures (45, 60, 75 °C), three levels of microwave powers (270, 450 and 630 W) and three levels of vacuum pressures (20, 40 and 60 kPa) were applied to perform the experiments. Seven mathematical models were fitted to the experimental drying data of almond kernels. Weight loss of samples was measured and recorded every 20 seconds in microwave dryer and every 300 seconds in infrared-vacuum dryer, respectively. Drying time was defined as the time required to reduce moisture content of samples to 0.1 g of water per g of dry mass.
It was observed that increasing the air temperature and microwave power decreased the time required to reach a certain level of moisture ratio. Also, by reducing the vacuum pressure, drying time for almond kernels was decreased. The results showed that the highest values of coefficient of determination were obtained with the Midilli et al. model. The Midilli et al. model gives higher R2 and lower RMSE and . Therefore, the Midilli et al. model may be supposed to demonstrate the drying behavior of the almond kernels in an infrared-vacuum dryer with microwave pretreatment. The maximum value of Deff (5.33×10-9 m2/s) during the experiments was depending on the air temperature of 75˚C, vacuum pressure of 20 kPa and microwave power of 630W. The minimum value of Deff (8.03×10-10 m2/s) depended on the air temperature of 45˚C, vacuum pressure of 60 kPa and microwave power of 270W. Air temperature had a larger effect on the Deff values of almond kernels drying. Minimum and maximum values of activation energy (Ea) for almond kernels were 28.73 and 51.84 kJ/mol, respectively. The highest and lowest values of energy consumption were 0.26 at air temperature of 45˚C, vacuum pressure of 20 kPa and microwave power of 270W and 0.07 kWh at air temperature of 75˚C, vacuum pressure of 60 kPa and microwave power of 630W, respectively. Increase in inlet air temperature demonstrated an exponential decrease in energy consumption. It was also observed that increase of inlet air temperature, vacuum pressure and microwave power decreased specific energy consumption.
Maximum and minimum values of shrinkage were 14.14% at air temperature of 75˚C, vacuum pressure of 60 kPa and microwave power of 630W and 7.78% computed at air temperature of 45˚C, vacuum pressure of 20 kPa and microwave power of 270W, respectively. The results indicated that the shrinkage increased with increasing air temperature, vacuum pressure and microwave power but the effect of air temperature was more than other parameters. Raising the drying temperature increased the movement of water molecules and made increasing the distance between the molecules in the structure of the sample.
The highest and lowest values of total color change were 8.85 at air temperature of 75˚C, vacuum pressure of 60 kPa and microwave power of 630W and 2.61 at air temperature of 45˚C, vacuum pressure of 20 kPa and microwave power of 270W, respectively. Results showed that total color change increased with increasing air temperature, microwave and vacuum pressure.
With respect to the quality indices of shrinkage and color changes, the recommendation is to dry the almond kernels under air temperature of 45 °C, microwave power of 270 W and vacuum pressure of 20 kPa.

The purpose of this study was prediction of thermal (effective moisture diffusivity and specific energy consumption), physical (shrinkage and color) and mechanical properties (rupture force) of terebinth fruit in a semi industrial continuous dryer using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Three effective factors on thermal, physical and mechanical properties, were air temperature, air velocity and belt linear speed as independent variables. Experiments were conducted with a semi industrial continuous dryer in temperature levels of 45, 60, 75 °C, air velocity levels of 1, 1.5 and 2 m/s and belt linear speed levels of 2.5, 6.5, 10.5 mm/s. Necessary data were collected using a the semi-industrial continuous dryer. Feed and cascade forward back propagation networks with learning algorithms of Levenberg-Marquardt and the Bayesian regulation were used to train the patterns. To predict the effective moisture diffusivity, feed forward networks with the Bayesian regulation, topology of 3-10-13-1 and 108 training cycles with R2=0.9999 was optimal arrangement. The optimal topology to predict the specific energy consumption was 3-10-1 with feed forward network, Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, 117 training cycles and R2=0.9961. The best network for shrinkage prediction was feed forward network with the Bayesian regulation algorithm, topology of 3-6-4-1, 101 training cycles and R2=0.9926. To predict the total color change, feed forward networks with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, topology of 3-6-7-1, 24 training cycles and R2=0.9139 was the optimal arrangement. The best network to predict the rupture force was feed forward network trained with the Bayesian regulation, topology of 3-8-6-1, 69 training cycles and R2=0.9990.