Model-Based Estimate for Time-Dependent Apparent Diffusivity

ABSTRACT

This article presents a method allowing the effective diffusion coefficient to be determined from experimental drying kinetics as a time-dependent parameter. The method combines an analytical solution of Fick's equation in which the Fourier number is raised to the empirical power (a), with a semi-theoretical equation derived for quasi-stationary conditions. The method has been validated by applying the resulting equation to literature data on drying kinetics for parboiled rice and cut tobacco leaves as they approach a sphere and a slab, considered to be standard geometries in diffusion problems.

Keywords:

• Diffusion
• Drying kinetics
• Quasi-stationary method
• Regular regime
• Rice
• Tobacco

This paper was presented at PRES'05 in Giardini di Naxos, Italy, May 15–18, 2005.

Notes

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Natural Resources, 2005.