Evaluation of innovative drying approaches in celery drying considering product quality and drying energy efficiency

Herein celery was dried with a tray dryer, taking into account the physical and chemical changes of the final product and its drying energy efficiency. In order to obtain the maximum energy efficiency, drying experiments were carried out with 3 different drying approaches: drying at a constant temperature, intermittent drying, and controlled temperature drying based on moisture ratio. A significant increase in energy efficiency was observed in the experiments performed at both intermittent drying and controlled temperature drying based on moisture ratio. Higher energy efficiency was obtained by drying at a higher constant temperature, but this in effect caused a degradation in both the chemical and physical properties of celery. Quality attributes of dried celery in intermittent drying were improved but the energy efficiency attained under these conditions was not as anticipated. However, controlled temperature drying based on moisture ratio had significantly higher energy efficiency as well as higher quality of the final product. Therefore, an innovative approach of controlled temperature drying based on moisture ratio stands out as the most effective technique in this study.