Simulation of drying behaviour of a small spherical foodstuff in a microwave assisted fluidized bed of inert particles

Drying behaviour of a small spherical porous particle was investigated in a microwave assisted fluidized bed of inert energy carriers. A pilot-scale microwave assisted fluidized bed dryer with inert particles was set up for this purpose. Glass beads particles were used as inert materials. Based on the simultaneous heat and mass transfer, a mathematical model was proposed for predicting the temperature variation and moisture distribution in the drying sample during drying. A numerical solution was developed for the proposed model using an implicit finite difference method in one dimensional system. The model was validated with experimental average moisture contents of green peas during drying and the effects of microwave power density, drying air velocity and also drying air temperature were discussed.