Lamas, Hugo ManuelRamalhosa, Elsa Cristina DantasMorais, Alcina Maria Miranda Bernardo de2015-05-112015-05-112015LAMAS, Hugo Manuel; RAMALHOSA, Elsa Cristina Dantas; MORAIS, Alcina M. M. B. - Equipment’s role on the drying process of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) fruits. International Jounal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology. ISSN 1757-2657. (2015) Vol. 7, nº2, p.273-2861757-2657http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/17529In the present work, drying of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) fruits was performed at different air temperatures in three equipments - convection oven, parallel flow tray dryer and fluidised bed dryer, at temperatures between 40 and 100°C. Newton diffusion approach and two-term models were found to be adequate in describing the moisture ratio and drying rates along time. For the same temperature, the dehydration processes that involved higher air velocities were > 1.6 times faster. On the other hand, for the same equipment the highest temperature (100°C) induced a drying rate ten times faster than the lowest temperature (40°C), reducing drying time. Apparent diffusivity ranged between 7.03 × 10−11 m2 s−1 (40°C, convection oven) and 1.06 × 10−9 m2 s−1 (100°C, fluidised bed dryer). In convection oven experiments, the diffusivity in function of temperature was well described by an Arrhenius type function, with an activation energy of 4.08 × 104 J mol−1.engChestnut fruitsAir dryingEquipmentConvection ovenParallel flow tray dryerFluidised bed dryerDrying modellingNewton modelDiffusion approach modelTwo-term modelApparent diffusivityActivation energyCastanea sativa milljournal article10.1504/IJCAET.2015.0683371757-266584926486305