Heat transfer effects on drying rate of food dehydration

This work studies the consequences of neglecting heat transfer effects in the Fick's law solution of food dehydration problems. A semi‐empirical approach is presented which correlates temperature and moisture changes of sugar beet root during the first falling rate period of drying; while the coupled heat and mass transfer equations are not solved rigorously, the approach gives a fairly accurate representation of the experimental results. An improved analysis through Fick's law is possible when the effect of changing sample temperature is considered.