Temperature and pretreatment effects on the drying of Hass avocado seeds

The objective of the present experimental work was to determine the influence of five different drying air temperatures (313, 323, 333, 343, and 353 K) on the drying kinetics and the degree of moisture evaporation from Hass avocado seeds. The drying experiments of the non-pretreated and pretreated (sliced and crushed) Hass avocado seeds were performed in a heating furnace, where the pretreatment process was found to accelerate the drying process. The obtained results suggested that increase in the operating air temperature stimulated the rate of moisture evaporation, but resulted in the charring of the seed surface. The drying air temperature of 313 K was concluded to be suitable for the reasonable drying of Hass avocado seeds. The slicing pretreatment process was found to be better indicative of the total moisture amount present in Hass avocado seeds. The drying process removed a maximum of 58% of the initial water mass of Hass avocado seeds. An additional investigation was performed where the physical appearance of Hass avocado seeds immersed in water at different temperatures (303, 318, 325.5, 333, and 348 K) was examined. The observed study suggested that the surrounding temperature higher than 313 K could damage the physical appearance and reduce the quality of Hass avocado seeds.