Air-borne ultrasound application in the convective drying of strawberry

The increase in both the applied acoustic power and temperature gave rise to a significant reduction of drying time (13-44%). The application of power ultrasound involved a significant (p < 0.05) improvement in the effective moisture diffusivity and the mass transfer coefficient, the effect being less intense at high temperatures. The results reported here highlight the fact that ultrasonic application during convective drying is a promising supporting technology with which to reduce the drying time needed for heat sensitive products, such as strawberry.