Air impingement and intermittent drying: Application to apple and to mango

An original drying process combining air impingement and intermittent drying was studied on apple slices and mango cubes. The influence of four operating parameters (air velocity, drying/tempering periods, upper height, and air temperature) on the drying time and on the drying rate was evaluated. Continuous and intermittent drying were compared. The intermittency α = 1/7 (τ_on = 10 seconds and τ_off = 60 seconds) gave the best results. A time savings of 54% for apple and 67% for mango was reached. In continuous drying, a time savings of 4620 seconds was observed by increasing the air velocity from 6 to 40 m s^?1 for apple. Air temperatures of 328 K for apple and of 328 K or 338 K for mango were determined as optimum to prevent case‐hardening. Experimental results were fitted with the analytical solution of Fick's second law and the modified Page equation (average values R² = 0.985 and 0.961, for apple and mango, respectively). For both products, the apparent moisture diffusivity D_app, the drying constant k, the drying coefficient n, and the activation energy E_a, were identified. Activation energies calculated from the analytical solution were 30.3 and 36.8 kJ mol^?1 and were 25.4 and 30.0 kJ mol^?1 using the modified Page equation for apple and mango, respectively. Mango has an increased temperature sensitivity and thus will need less energy for drying than apple.