Drying kinetics and quality of coconut dried in a fluidized bed dryer

An industrial-scale batch fluidized bed dryer was used to dry finely chopped coconut pieces. The effects of various operating parameters, i.e., the values and patterns of inlet air velocity and temperature, on the drying kinetics and some selected quality attributes of dried coconut viz. color and surface oil content were then examined. It was found that the color of the dried product was affected mostly by the inlet air temperature, while the quantity of surface oil was affected mostly by the inlet air velocity. The surface oil content of the product dried by any tested conditions was still higher than that of the reference sample, which is accepted by the market, however.