Mathematical modeling of the drying and oil extraction processes of passion fruit seeds using fractional calculus

BACKGROUND This article aims to fit kinetic models of the passion fruit seed drying process, in addition to mathematical modeling using traditional models and fractional calculus of the extraction of lipids from the seeds. RESULTS Regarding the drying process, it was found that the model that best suited the two drying temperatures employed was the fractional order one. CONCLUSION Analysis showed that for both drying conditions the value of parameter α was greater than 1, indicating that the profile that occurs for the seeds is superdiffusion. Regarding the mathematical fits of oil extraction, it was found that the two models that presented the best fits for the lipid extraction kinetics were hyperbolic and fractional order. Regarding the fractional order model, as the value of parameter α was lower than 1, it can be seen that the process again does not follow Fick's law, and in this case a subdiffusion process occurs.