Modeling of internal moisture transport during durum wheat pasta drying

• A mechanistic model considering internal water evaporation is developed.
• The model accurately predicts internal moisture profiles at low and high temperatures.
• Water is mostly transported in the liquid state during pasta drying.
• Capillarity is the dominant mass transfer mechanism in pasta drying.
• Diffusivities and mass transfer coefficients most affect pasta estimated drying time.

A mechanistic model considering water evaporation and distinguishing liquid water and water vapor transport during pasta drying was developed and validated with published experimental moisture profiles. Model predictions of the internal moisture profiles were more accurate and able to capture the evolution with time of the moisture profiles for drying at low and high air temperatures. Model simulations indicated that approximately 88% of the water is transported in the liquid state, the convective flow of liquid water is negligible and the diffusion and convection of water vapor are important. A sensitivity analysis showed that the diffusivities and the mass transfer coefficients were the parameters affecting the most significantly the model drying time and internal moisture profile estimates.