DRYING BEHAVIOR OF HAZELNUTS

A diffusion-based drying model has been used to model the single-layer drying of whole hazelnuts (hull, air-gap and kernel). The drying of w hole hazelnut was simulated by means of the numerical solution of Fick 's second law for a composite solid consisting of an air gap which is between two solid bodies. The Crank-Nicholson implicit numerical metho d has been applied to solve the diffusion equation with variable mass diffusivity for whole hazelnut. The numerical data so obtained has bee n presented in the form of a series of curves which represent the dryi ng characteristics of a whole hazelnut. Experimental results from whol e hazelnuts were correlated with the theoretical results. A correlatio n describing the diffusivity of the whole hazelnut with moisture conte nt and temperature was established, when the expression of diffusivity for hazelnut was used. Predicting the drying behaviour of the hazelnu t for a known value of initial moisture content, equilibrium moisture and equivalent radius, a good agreement was obtained between the exper imental data and prediction. Whole hazelnut diffusivity was determined at 25-45 degrees C, air velocity 0.2-0.3 ms(-1), 60% relative humidit y of air, using the theoretical curves that best fit the data. The dif fusivity of whole hazelnut was determined as a function of drying air temperature and velocity. (C) 1998 SCI.