Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39

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Energy Conversion and Management

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Mushroom dehydration in a hybrid-solar dryer

Alejandro Reyes ⇑, Andrea Mahn, Francisco Cubillos, Pedro Huenulaf
Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Mushrooms (Paris variety) were dehydrated in a hybrid solar dryer (HSD) provided with a 3 m2 solar
Received 3 December 2012 panel and electric resistances. Mushrooms were cut in 8 mm or 4 mm thickness slices. At the outlet of
Accepted 23 January 2013 the tray dryer 80–90% air was recycled and the air temperature was adjusted to the pre-defined levels
Available online 19 March 2013
(50 or 60 °C). At the outlet of the solar panel the air temperature raised between 2 and 20 °C above
the ambient temperature, depending mainly of solar radiation level.
Keywords: Temperature, slices thickness and air recycle level had statistically significant effects on critical mois-
Effective diffusivity
ture content (Xc), as well as on the time necessary to reach a moisture content of 0.1 (wb).
Color
Thickness effect
The color parameters of dehydrated mushroom indicate a notorious darkening, in all runs. Rehydration
Drying assays at 35 °C showed that in less than 30 min rehydrated mushrooms reached a moisture content of 0.8
Solar energy (wb).
Effective diffusivity (Deff) was estimated by the Simplified Constant Diffusivity Model (SCDM), and it
ranged between 6E10 and 40E10 m2/s, with R2 higher than 0.98, agreeing with literature. The adjust-
ment of experimental drying kinetics with the empirical Page’s model resulted in R2 higher than 0.997.
Finally, the input of solar energy resulted in 3.5–12.5% energy saving. These values could even be
improved by increasing the agro-product load in the HSD.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 1.2. Geographical characteristics of Chile

1.1. Generalities
Drying is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the food
industry [1–3]. Traditionally the required energy comes from fossil
fuels, which show continuously growing prices and negative im-
pact on the environment [4,5]. In search for new energy sources,
solar energy is an attractive non-polluting alternative to be used
in drying processes [1,6,7]. The duration of the sunshine as well
as its intensity depends on the season, weather conditions and
the geographical location. The partial (or total) replacement of tra-
ditional fuels by solar energy in drying processes will result in con-
siderable energy savings, thus reducing the CO2 emission
responsible for global heating [6]. However, the daily and seasonal
fluctuations in the irradiation level represent an important draw-
back, that makes it necessary to use additional energy sources
and/or energy accumulators that allow the operation during the
low or null irradiation periods.
Chile belongs to the southwest hemisphere, located to the west
form Greenwich meridian, between 17°300 and 90° south latitude.
Chile is 4270 km length and its maximum width is 445 km. This
geographical location shows marked irradiation differences along
the country. Thus, in the north zone there is a high irradiation level
that gradually diminishes when moving towards the south zone.
On the other hand, most agricultural production in Chile is ob-
tained in the central zone. In this sense, the Metropolitan region,
where the capital Santiago is found, exhibits an irradiation level
similar to the average of the central zone of Chile. In addition, en-
ergy consumption projections in Chile indicate a serious energy
deficit for the next decade, and therefore solar energy constitutes
an interesting alternative.
1.3. Solar dryers

The drying process involves simultaneous: (i) heat transfer from

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +56 0227181819.
E-mail address: alejandro.reyes@usach.cl (A. Reyes).
the surrounding to the surface of the food particle being dried fol-
lowed by heat conduction within the material; and (ii) mass trans-
fer from inside the food to its surface, followed by external
transport of moisture to the surroundings. The drying air absorbs
moisture from the solid only if its relative humidity is below satu-
ration. Drying temperature is of importance for thermo-labile agri-

0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2013.01.032
32 A. Reyes et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39
Nomenclature
a⁄ color parameter
b parameter (s/m)
b⁄ color parameter
c dimensionless parameter
Deff effective moisture diffusivity (m2/h)
E color parameter
K page parameter
L half thickness characteristic of the mushroom slices (m)
L⁄ color parameter
n page parameter
N number of experimental data
Q air flow (m3/h)
Se standard error of estimation
Sd standard deviation
R air recycle (%)
RH relative air humidity
T drying air temperature (°C, K)
t time (s)
X average moisture content of mushroom particles (water
kg/kg wb)
cultural products in order to keep quality, i.e. vitamins, color, fla-
vor, etc. [3].
Drying by solar radiation can be divided into two categories:
(a) direct or open sun drying; and (b) indirect or convective solar
drying. Open sun drying may be an efficient and cheap process,
but it has some disadvantages such as contamination by dirt, in-
sects and bacteria, and loss due to wetting by rain squalls [5,8]. In
order to avoid the previous disadvantages, indirect solar dryers
have been developed, in which the foodstuff is kept inside a
chamber.
In past years, the use of solar dryers was encouraged in high
radiation zones, especially in rural communities, aiming to exploit
solar energy potential for foodstuff dehydration, using simple dry-
ers [3,9–12]. However, the energy crisis and global heating prob-
lems have resulted in an increase of the use of solar energy, even
in moderate radiation zones, by means of more sophisticated
dryers.
In order to allow using the solar dryer in low or null radiation
periods, hybrid solar dryers have been designed that consider the
use of additional energy sources (biomass, hydrocarbons or elec-
tricity), which is employed in such periods [13,14]. These systems
consist of three main components: (a) solar energy capture panel
(flat plate collectors), (b) additional energy generator or accumula-
tor, and (c) convective drying chamber [2,5,15,16].
Several studies evaluated the technical and economical feasi-
bility of hybrid solar dryers (HSDs): Boughali et al. [5] evaluated
a HSD for tomato slices dehydration, informing that the solar en-
ergy input fluctuated between 13% and 25% as complement to
electric energy. Amer et al. [8] dried ripe banana slices in a dryer
which was operated during normal sunny days as a solar dryer,
during cloudy days as a HSD, and using the energy stored in
water during the night, which was collected during the time of
sunshine and with electric heaters. Bhattacharya et al. [17] dried
banana and chili (16 kg each) in a dryer that could be operated
during normal sunny days as a solar dryer, during cloudy days
as a hybrid solar/biomass dryer, and at night with energy pro-
vided only by biomass combustion. Pangavhane and Sawhney
[18] showed the evolution of solar dryers for grapes, including
traditional solar dryers and HSD. Bennamoun and Belhamri [19]
used a solar batch dryer with a 3 m2 surface collector and an elec-
trical heater.
Xo initial moisture content of mushroom particles (water
kg/kg wb)
Xeq equilibrium moisture content of mushroom slices
(water kg/kg wb)
Greek letters
D difference between two values
qp density of the particle (kg/m3)
qb bulk density of particles (kg/m3)
l air viscosity (kg/m s)
Sub-indexes
c critical
o initial
amb ambient
sp solar panel outlet
eq equilibrium
1.4. Drying of mushrooms
Mushrooms are edible fungi that exhibit high nutritional value,
and therefore their commercial importance and consumption have
increased. They show high content of some vitamins, minerals,
essential amino acids and fiber. From the almost 2000 mushroom
species, only about 20 are grown for commercial purposes [20].
In Chile its consumption has increased in the last 5 years up to
an average annual consumption of 0.4 kg per capita, however it
is still low with respect to other countries such as Taiwan (7.3 kg
per capita) and Netherlands (6.5 kg per capita). Unfortunately
mushrooms are extremely perishable and their shelf life is about
24 h at ambient temperature and it can be extended to 7–10 days
when refrigerated. As a consequence, mushrooms are usually dried
to extend their shelf-life. Since mushrooms are thermo-labile,
choosing the right drying conditions is relevant [21].
Usually the consumption of dehydrated mushrooms requires
rehydration, which is influenced by the processing conditions,
sample composition, sample preparation and extent of the struc-
tural and chemical disruptions induced by drying [22].
1.5. Objectives
The objective of this work was quantifying some quality param-
eters (color and rehydration) and the solar energy fraction that can
be used in a hybrid solar dryer (pilot level) for mushroom dehydra-
tion, under different operating conditions. In this dryer the com-
plementary energy source was electric, because of its availability
and convenience, even though at industrial level the preferred en-
ergy source is methane or biomass.
2. Mathematical modeling
The drying processes consist of the constant rate drying period
and the falling rate drying period. An approach to describe food
dehydration process during the falling rate period is based on the
concept of effective diffusivity (Deff), which allows describing the
diffusion of moisture by Fick’s second law. This equation can be
integrated for different geometries, boundary/initial conditions
and special physical and mathematical considerations [23]. The
analytical solution of the Fick’s second law is well known for
 A. Reyes et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39
one-dimensional geometries (infinite slab, infinite cylinder and
sphere), although the mathematical solution for finite regular sol-
ids can be obtained as the product between two or three one-
dimensional solutions [23,24]. On the other hand, during convec-
tive drying of agro-products the solid shrinks, resulting in possible
variation of Deff along the drying process [25,26].
A simplified approach considers that diffusivity remains con-
stant, that there is no shrinkage, the conditions of the drying air
do not vary and that the external resistance to mass transfer is neg-
ligible. Besides, it must be taken into account that usually the equi-
librium moisture content of mushroom is relatively small at drying
conditions. With these assumptions, for an infinite slab of thick-
ness 2L and diffusion in the x direction, the Constant Diffusivity
Model (CDM) is obtained [24]:
XðtÞ  X eq XðtÞ
/x ¼ ffi ters the drying chamber (0.5 m  0.5 m  1.2 m), where it distrib-
X o  X eq Xo
 X   
8 1 p2 Deff  t
¼ exp ð2n  1Þ2
p 2
n¼1 ð2n  1Þ
2 4L L The air flow rate through the trays varied between 0.8 and
By omitting the factor 8/p2, and considering only the first term
of the series, Eq. (2) is obtained that corresponds to the Simplified
Constant Diffusivity Model (SCDM) for an infinite slab of thickness
2L, which allows a semi empirical estimation of Deff:
 
XðtÞ p2
/x ¼ ¼ exp   Deff  t
Xo 4  L2
Rahman and Kumar [25] reported Deff values in the order of 30%
higher when considering one-dimensional (infinite cylinder) with
respect to finite cylinder. Besides, when shrinkage is neglected, Deff
values resulted about 30% higher than considering shrinkage.
Reyes et al. [26] for regular particles of carrots (parallelepipeds) ad-
justed Deff in terms of shrinkage, temperature and air velocity.
Besides, many empirical models have been used to adjust the
dehydration curves [27–29]. The most common model for agricul-
tural products is the empirical Page model, given by Eq. (3), where
k (min1) is a dimensionless value and t (min) is the drying time
[30].
XðtÞ
¼ expðk  t n Þ
X0
3. Equipment, materials and methods
3.1. Equipment
In the Unit Operations Laboratory (Department of Chemical
Engineering, Universidad de Santiago) the hybrid solar dryer
A. Solar panel; B. Electrical heater; C. Chamber drying;
D. Centrifugal fan; E. Exit air. Vi. Valves.
Fig. 1. Scheme of the hybrid-solar dryer. (A) Solar panel; (B) electrical heater; (C)
chamber drying; (D) centrifugal fan; and (E) exit air. Vi. valves.
33
(HSD) was designed and built, with a maximum load of 15 kg (Figs.
1 and 2). The HSD was equipped with temperature, pressure,
humidity and solar radiation sensors. The solar panel was located
on the roof of the 4-floors building, while the drying chamber
and control devices were located in the 4th floor, immediately be-
low the solar panel.
The hybrid solar dryer (HSD) consists of a 3 m2 (3 m length and
1 m width) solar panel composed by a glass sheet (5 mm thickness)
and a black wavy zinc plate. Below this zinc plate a thermal insu-
lating material was located (50 mm thickness of mineral wool).
The air passes through the free space (30–50 mm height) between
the glass and the zinc plate until reaching the mixing point with
the recycled air. This air mixture enters the electric heating system
composed by 5 kW electric resistances where the air temperature
is adjusted to the desired level (50 or 60 °C). After that, the air en-
utes to pass over 10 perforated plate trays made of stainless steel
(0.45 m  0.5 m), located in two sections of five trays each one.
ð1Þ
1.0 m/s.
The air is sucked through a 3 KW blower and directed to the
electric resistances zone, although a 10–20% fraction is removed
from the system through valve V2.
The HSD is provided with a data acquisition system OPTO 22
(model SNAP-PAC-R1), which allows registering air temperature
ð2Þ at the outlet of the solar panel (Tsp), temperature and relative
humidity at the inlet of the drying chamber (T1 and RH1) [Hanna
Instruments, HI 8666, RH/°C transmitter] and temperature and rel-
ative humidity at the outlet of the chamber (T2 and RH2). Pressure
drop was registered through two Pitot tubes located at the outlet of
the centrifugal fan and the outlet of valve V2, in order to determine
the air rate. The solar radiation was determined by a Pyranometer
(Li-200SA) located at one side of the solar panel on the roof of the
building. This information was stored in a PC. Air pass valves open-
ing was controlled from a PC.
3.2. Materials
Drying runs were performed using mushrooms (Paris variety)
ð3Þ purchased in the local market. Mushrooms were soaked for
5 min in a disinfectant solution (10% benzalkonium chloride),
which was diluted 600 times in water. After that mushrooms were
thoroughly rinsed. Then, mushrooms were cut in 4 mm or 8 mm
slices.
3.3. Experimental procedure
3.3.1. Drying kinetics
About 6.5 kg of mushrooms were put in the dryer, distributing
0.650 kg in each tray (0.48 m  0.58 m). Additionally 0.050 kg
was loaded in two wire baskets, which were located in Sections
1 and 2, respectively, and were weighed every half hour. The initial
mass was measured with a balance (Boeco BBL62, Boecktel Co.,
Germany). After 30 min, the wire baskets were taken out from
the dryer, weighed and then put back. This procedure was repeated
until moisture content was below 10% (wb).
To obtain the drying curves, samples of the solids were removed
of two sector of the dryer and their moisture content was deter-
mined by measuring the difference in weight between their wet
state and after drying exhaustively at 85 °C on a digital balance
with a sensitivity of 0.01 g.
3.3.2. Color
The color of the samples was measured with a colorimeter
(Minolta Chromo Meter CR 200b) using the Lab color scale, which
is an international standard for color measurements, adopted by
34 A. Reyes et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39

Fig. 2. Pictures of the hybrid solar dryer. (A) Drying chamber; (B) drying chamber containing mushrooms; (C) solar panel before installation; (D) solar panel installed on the
roof of the building; and (E) general sight of the solar panel.

the Commission Internationale d’Eclairage (CIE). The instrument Table 1

was calibrated with white and yellow plates. Surface measure- Experimental design matrix.

ments were made under a CIE D65 illuminant which simulates dif- Run Air recycle (%) Temperature (°C) Thickness (103 m)
fused daylight. Color measurements of mushrooms were made on C1 90 50 4
a Petri dish over a white plate and replicated ten times after mixing C2 90 50 8
the dried samples, and the average values of L⁄, a⁄ and b⁄ were re- C3 90 60 4
ported. Mixing of samples was done primarily to account for color C4 80 60 4
C5 80 60 8
variation among dehydrated mushroom slices.
C6 80 50 8
Color variation between fresh (denoted by the subscript ‘0’) and C7 80 50 4
dehydrated mushrooms, was used to describe the total color C8 90 60 8
change DE after drying by means of the following equation:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
DE ¼ ðL0  L Þ2 þ ða0  a Þ2 þ ðb0  b Þ2 ð4Þ was measured by the procedure given previously in the description
of the drying procedure.

3.3.3. Rehydration tests

The water adsorption capacity of the dried particles was deter- 3.4. Experimental method
mined in a water thermostatic bath at 35 °C. At certain time inter-
vals, five particles were removed from the bath, the surface water Selection of the experimental factors considered air tempera-
was blotted off with an adsorbent paper and the moisture content ture (50 and 60 °C) due to its direct influence on drying time; initial
 A. Reyes et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39 35

mushroom slice thickness (4 and 8 mm) because it affects the dif-

fusion path of moisture; air flow recycle (80% and 90%) since this
implies minimizing energy supply to heat the drying air. A factorial
experimental design, with the above-mentioned factors in two lev-
els (23), was used to analyze the drying process. Table 1 shows the
experimental design matrix. Runs were carried out in a random
order.

4. Results

4.1. Data acquisition

Ambient temperature, air temperature in the outlet of the solar

panel (Tsp), and solar radiation were registered through the data
acquisition system. This is shown in Fig. 3. The solar panel allowed
increasing the air temperature (Tsp) from 2 to 20 °C above the
ambient temperature, depending on the air flow rate and mainly
of the solar radiation. These values agree with the range reported
by Kadam and Samuel [2] for cauliflower, and by Boughali et al.
[5] for tomatoes. This temperature increase allows reducing elec-
tric energy consumption. The difference to achieve the pre-defined
inlet air temperature (T1) was obtained from the electric resis-
tances. The surface of the solar panel is waved and black, and in or-
der to increase the energy capture and emission to the drying air,
this surface area will be enlarged in future works. In this way,
the drying air temperature should be increased.
Fig. 4. Difference between drying air temperature and ambient temperature at the
outlet of the solar panel versus drying time.
Fig. 4 shows marked temperature fluctuation at the outlet of the
solar panel for runs C1 and C6, due to variations of solar radiation
because of the passage of clouds. Also it should be noticed that
maximum temperature was reached at different times in the dif-
ferent runs, because drying experiences did not start at the same
time, in the morning.

Fig. 3. Ambient and solar panel temperatures and solar radiation. (A) Run C2, (B) Run C8, (C) Run C4, and (D) Run C7.
36 A. Reyes et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39

Fig. 5. Temperature and relative humidity at the inlet and outlet of the drying chamber. (A) Run C2, (B) Run C8, (C) Run C4, and (D) Run C7.

Air temperature (T1 and T2) and relative air humidity (RH1 and
RH2) at the inlet and outlet of the drying chamber were also regis-
tered, which are presented for some runs in Fig. 5. Fig. 5A shows a
special situation that corresponds to run C2, where inlet tempera-
ture could be maintained at 50 °C only during the first 3 h of dry-
ing. After that this temperature gradually raised up to 58 °C, even
when electric resistances were turned off. This agrees with the so-
lar radiation peak. In other words, in high radiation days drying
could be performed using mostly solar energy. Fig. 5 shows that,
for all runs, the relative humidity at the inlet of the dryer (RH1)
fluctuated between 25% and 35%, rising drastically at the outlet
of the dryer (RH2) up to 55–75% during the first hour drying. This
can be attributed to the quick removal of unbound water. As the
process went on, RH2 gradually decreased, coming near to RH1
after 5 h drying. Additionally Fig. 5 shows that most of the drying
period, the relative air humidity at the outlet of the drying cham-
ber was below 40%, i.e. still having a high drying potential. As a
consequence, the foodstuff load could be increased.
Fig. 6. Drying kinetics of mushroom slices (%R = air recycling; T = air temperature;
4.2. Experimental drying curves and E: slice thickness).

Fig. 6 shows the reduced drying curves (dimensionless moisture

content [X/Xo] v/s time), performed in duplicate, corresponding to which was similar in all runs. The results showed in general devi-
runs carried out at operating conditions given in Table 1. In ations lower than 2% between replicates; despite in two experi-
Fig. 6, Xo represents initial moisture content (Xo = 0.92 ± 0.01), ences this deviation reached 4%, probably due to variations in the
 A. Reyes et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39 37

inlet air temperature. The drying curves (Fig. 6) exhibit the ex-
pected behavior: a linear decrease of moisture content in the initial
period, until reaching the critical moisture content, which was
0.45 ± 0.12, where the non-bound moisture was removed; and
after that the bound moisture was removed following an exponen-
tial trend in terms of time. As expected, the lower drying rates
were achieved with thicker particles and at lower temperatures.
An unexpected behavior was observed in run C8 (in both replicate
runs), which was very similar to results of run C4, probably due to
the higher air recycling ratio that compensates the larger thickness
of the particles used in C8.

4.2.1. Statistical analyses

The Pareto chart (Fig. 7) shows that the three experimental fac-
tors had statistically significant effect on the time necessary to re-
duce the moisture content to 0.1 (wb). Drying air temperature and
slice thickness show the expected behavior: higher temperatures Fig. 8. Evolution of significant effects on moisture content, at 95% confidence level.

resulted in faster drying kinetics and when diminishing the slice

thickness, an increase in the drying kinetics was observed, which
Table 2
accounts for the reduction of the diffusional path. It was expected Values of Xc/Xo for mushroom slices.
that increasing the air recycling resulted in extended drying times,
since an increase in air humidity diminishes the drying potential. Run Xc/Xo Block 1 Xc/Xo Block 2

However, the statistical analysis showed the opposite. A possible C1 0.50 0.44
explanation of this behavior is that increasing the air recycling re- C2 0.55 0.57
C3 0.45 0.48
sults in an increased air humidity, which in turn reduces the col-
C4 0.32 0.35
lapse of the superficial cellular structures thus facilitating C5 0.43 0.50
moisture removal. C6 0.54 0.55
Fig. 8 shows the fluctuation of the estimated effects of the C7 0.42 0.40
C8 0.45 0.50
experimental factors on moisture content of mushroom in time.
During the first hour of drying, the factor thickness had no signif-
icant effect on drying rate, agreeing with the removal of unbound
water from the particles surface. Slice thickness had a positive ef- Table 3
fect (higher thickness implies longer drying time) on moisture con- Color parameters.
tent from the minute 90 onwards, which agrees with the beginning Run DE DL Da⁄ Db⁄
of the bound water release. On the other side, both air temperature
C1 32.70 31.32 5.66 7.53
and air recycle had significant negative effects on moisture C2 37.05 36.08 4.65 7.03
content. C3 38.71 38.32 3.09 4.54
C4 49.99 49.82 4.16 0.10
C5 32.65 31.59 3.60 7.40
C6 26.34 25.78 2.23 4.93
4.2.2. Critical moisture content
C7 31.27 29.84 5.50 7.55
The slope change in moisture content versus time plots allowed C8 34.89 33.41 4.07 9.20
determining critical moisture content for the eight runs and their
replicates. The values obtained from drying rate versus moisture
content graphs were similar, but showed higher variability. Tem-
4.3. Color
perature, slice thickness and air recycle percentage showed statis-
tically significant effects on Xc and time required to reach moisture
The color parameters (a⁄, b⁄, DE, and L⁄) of dehydrated mush-
content of 0.1. Xc diminished with temperature increase, and it in-
room indicate a notorious darkening, in all runs (Table 3), which
creased with slice thickness and air recycle percentage. Drying
agrees with the results informed by Kotwaliwale et al. [31] for dry-
time decreases proportionally to Xc, since higher values of Xc result
ing of Oyster mushroom. The statistical analyses of the color
in shorter constant drying rate periods (highest drying rate). For
parameters were not affected by the experimental factors. A possi-
this reason, it is recommendable selecting operating conditions
ble explanation could be that temperature was expected to affect
that reduce the critical moisture content (see Table 2).
them, but the temperature range studied could have been too nar-
row (10 °C). Another possible explanation is that the color of each
particle was uneven, exhibiting evident differences in color param-
eters. As a consequence, despite random sampling, color measure-
ments could have a high variability.

4.4. Rehydration of the dried mushroom particles

On checking the rate of rehydration of dried mushroom particles,

all experiments showed that this rate was high during the first 2–
3 min of the rehydration procedure, and then was followed by a per-
iod of asymptotic increase for the next 30 min, as shown in Fig. 9. The
Fig. 7. Pareto chart. final degree of water absorption was 0.75 ± 0.05 (wb) for all runs.
38 A. Reyes et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 70 (2013) 31–39

Table 5
Absorbed solar energy/electric energy input [Qsp/Qe].

Run Average [Qsp/Qe] S.D.

C1 0.117 0.037
C2 0.077 0.018
C3 0.068 0.022
C4 0.082 0.027
C5 0.071 0.020
C6 0.109 0.034
C7 0.053 0.018
C8 0.035 0.012

Fig. 9. Rehydration profiles of mushroom slices.
The time required to reach this moisture content was shorter for the
thinnest slices due to the shorter diffusional path of water.
4.5. Adjustment of experimental drying curves
between 0.1 and 0.8, depending on solar radiation level and oper-
ating conditions. The average efficiencies (given in Table 5) ranged
between 0.035 and 0.117. Even though these values are not very
high, they result in considerable energy saving and also in a reduc-
tion of CO2 emission. These values could probably be improved by
increasing the mushroom load in the HSD, since in this work only
40% maximum capacity (15 kg) of the dryer was used. Amer et al.
[8] used solar dryer containing solar reflectors with holders to
move them according to the sun angles during the day. They re-
ported that the instant efficiency of the dryer rose up to 75% by
recycling about 65% the drying air.

The mushroom slices show only the thickness as a regular 5. Conclusions

dimension, being homogeneous along the slice. This characteristic
avoids using three-dimensional functions to estimate Deff. How- Temperature, slices thickness and air recycle level showed sta-
ever, since thickness is considerably smaller than the other dimen- tistically significant effects on Xc and on the time required to reach
sions, the one-dimensional solution is a reasonable approximation a moisture content of 0.1. It is recommendable to select operating
to estimate Deff. This is no longer true as mushroom thickness in- conditions that reduce the critical moisture content.
creases, since diffusion in the other dimensions becomes relevant. Drying kinetics was adequately adjusted by the Simplified Con-
The parameters of Eq. (2) (Deff) and Eq. (3) (k and n) were deter- stant Diffusivity Model, despite the physical and mathematical
mined by minimizing the root mean square error between the simplifications. The same was observed for the empirical Page’s
experimental values of moisture content of the mushroom parti- model. The resulting Deff values agreed with literature for
cles versus time and those calculated for the models. This adjust- mushrooms.
ment was performed by the Solver Tool from Microsoft Excel The color parameters of dehydrated mushroom indicate a noto-
2003 software. rious darkening, in all runs. The final degree of water absorption
The Deff values obtained from the Simplified Constant Diffusiv- was 0.80 ± 0.05 (wb) for all runs, in less than 30 min.
ity Model (SCDM) were adjusted considering the experimental The input of solar energy resulted in 3.5–12.5% energy saving.
data of the complete drying period, since no important variations These values could even be improved by increasing the agro-prod-
of Deff were observed when adjustment was limited to the falling uct load in the HSD. These results will be useful for designing an
rate period. As shown in Table 4, the resulting R2 values were high- industrial level HSD.
er than 0.98. The estimated Deff values agree with those reported
for mushrooms by Da Silva et al. [32] and by Tulek [33], who used Acknowledgment
the same one-dimensional approximation.
The adjustment using the empirical Page’s model resulted in The authors wish to thank the financial support of project
determination coefficients (R2) higher than 0.997. These values FONDECYT No. 1110101.
are shown in Table 4.
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