Heat and mass transfer coefficients in drying of starch based food systems

Experiments were conducted to measure the temperature and moisture content of starch and starch-fructose samples during drying. A two-dimensional finite element model was developed. An exhaustive parameter estimation technique was applied in conjunction with the model and drying data to estimate the moisture filtration coefficient k(p) and the surface heat and mass transfer coefficients, h(q) and h(m). Minimization of the deviation between experimental and simulation data resulted in a k(p) value of 0.51*10^-7 kg.m/N.h and 0.52*10^-7kg.m/N.h for the starch and starch-fructose samples. Corresponding values of h were 15.8 W/m²K and 21.2 W/m²K and that of h(m) were 1.12*10^-6 m/s and 0.94*10^-6 m/s respectively.