Infrared and hot drying of saffron petal (Crocus sativus L.): Effect on drying, energy, color, and rehydration

Abstract
In this study, the effect of infrared (IR) and hot air dryers on the drying properties of saffron petals was investigated. Drying of saffron petals was done under three level temperature 40, 50, and 60°C and distance from IR lamps 10, 14, and 20 cm and the main physical and thermal properties were measured. The highest value effective moisture diffusion (Deff) was evaluated for IR-dried samples at 60°C and 10 cm with 5.57 × 10−7 m2/s. The lowest value of color changes is related to the sample dried at 40°C at a distance of 20 cm with a color change of 11.99 in the IR dryer. Increasing the drying temperature reduced the drying time and energy consumption and increased the drying rate and Deff. Also, the results showed that Midilli model was selected as the best model for drying saffron petals with an IR and hot air dryer.

Author
Mohammad Kaveh

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpe.14342

Publisher
Journal of Food Process Engineering

ISSN
1745-4530

Publish Date: