Modeling the Drying of Coconut Residue in Fluidized Bed Dryer

This research aimed to investigate the effect of temperature on air drying kinetics of coconut residue in a fluidized bed dryer (FBD), to fit the drying curves with six empirical models, and to calculate the diffusivity coefficients and the activation energy. The Midilli model is the best for explaining the drying behavior. It is possible to predict the moisture content of the product with a generalized model showing the effect of a drying air temperature of 70-100 degrees C and a velocity of 1.07 m/s. The Midilli model has shown an excellent fit to predict the drying behavior and best fit for the experimental data since it yielded the highest R2 and the lowest Chi square (chi(2)) and RSME values for all runs. The experimental data were also modeled using Fick's diffusion equation. .The activation energy value for the drying temperature of dried coconut residue in an FBD is 26.09 kJ/mol.