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Drying turmeric slices using a photovoltaic ventilation direct solar dryer: Drying characteristics and interations of heat and mass transfer

1Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Animal and Agricultural Science, Diponegoro University, Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java, 50275, Indonesia, Indonesia

2Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University, Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java, 50275, Indonesia, Indonesia

Received: 20 Jan 2025; Published: 11 Jul 2026.
Editor(s): H Hadiyanto
Open Access Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract
This study evaluates the drying characteristics and the heat and mass transfer phenomena during the drying of turmeric slices using a photovoltaic ventilation direct solar dryer under natural mode. Turmeric slices of varying thicknesses—5 mm, 7 mm, and 10 mm—were dried from an initial moisture content of 83.48% to a final moisture content of 5–6% to ensure safe storage conditions. The drying times required were 1440 minutes, 1800 minutes, and 2160 minutes for thicknesses of 5 mm, 7 mm, and 10 mm, respectively. Thinner turmeric slices exhibited faster drying rates, with the highest average drying rate observed for 5 mm slices at 0.287 g/min. Similarly, drying efficiency was higher for thinner slices. The Midilli model provided the best fit for experimental and predicted data in describing the drying kinetics of turmeric slices. The effective moisture diffusivity obtained in this study was 1.88 × 10-8, 3.09 × 10-8, and 5.03 × 10-8 m2/s for thicknesses of 5 mm, 7 mm, and 10 mm, respectively. Higher heat and mass transfer coefficients were observed for drying thinner turmeric slices. The convective heat transfer coefficient (hc) and evaporative heat transfer coefficient (he) decreased as moisture content was reduced. In contrast, the mass transfer coefficient (hm) increased as the drying time progressed.
Keywords: Drying Characteristics; Energy Analysis; Heat and Mass Transfer; Solar Drying; Turmeric Slices
Funding: Universitas Diponegoro under contract MetMU123456

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