ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF MICROWAVE AND INFRARED DRYING OF LAUREL (LAURUS NOBILIS L.) BERRY

In this research, drying characteristics and energy requirements for microwave and IR (infrared) drying of laurel berries. Infrared energy is very promising technology in drying procedure because of the low investment, maintain and energy consumption. Therefore microwave and infrared energy were compered in this study. During the experiments, Laurel berries were dried to the final moisture content of 7-9 % from 31.80-36.03 (w.b.). Drying by continuous microwave dryer three power levels were selected as 400, 600, 800 W For infrared drying small scale drying room was constructed with 4 infrared heaters with maximum 20 kW heat power. The minimum and the maximum energy requirements for drying of laurel berries were also determined as 5.39-6.47 MJ/kg H2O for microwave drying and 6.49-10.94 MJ/kg H2O for IR drying. The dried berries were subjected to the cold pressing to obtain the Laurel Berry oil. The max. oil yield was found 42.5 % (d.b.) at semi-ventilated mode of infrared drying.