Influence of Drying Temperature on Mass Transfer Characteristics and Physiochemical Properties of Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis Miller)

The aim of this research is to evaluate the kinetics study of hot air drying with aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller) as a specimen and also to find the influence of temperature in various kinetic models proposed. In hot air drying different temperatures ranging from 30-50ËšC with an air velocity of 2.0 m/s is used. In this experiment the proposed mathematical models are studied they are Newton, Henderson–Pabis, Page, modified Page and Logarithmic model. Using the linear regression coefficient (R2), sum square error (SSE), root mean square error (RMSE) and Chi-square statistic (w2) the best fit quality is found. As the temperature range is increased the effective moisture diffusivity is also increased from 4.78 × 10- 10 m2/sec to 13.45 × 10-10 m2/sec. From the mathematical models evaluated in this research the modified Page model gives the best result and fits into the experimental and predicted drying data