The Effect of Microwave Radiation on the Properties of Canola Seeds

The evolution of moisture content loss, which appears during drying of Canola seeds using microwaves radiation (MW) was studied in this work. A mathematical model was adopted to simulate the physical phenomenon of heat and mass transfer between the seeds and the surrounding air. Initial conditions of 20% (w.b.) of moisture content and 20ºC of grains temperature were taken in the modelling; the relative humidity in the room before starting tests was 30%. The drying was down under different MW power from 100 W to 300W. Result show that the predicted moisture loss profiles obtained from the modelling compared well with those obtained experimentally on canola seeds. we were observed also that the drying rate was increased from low to high value of 4.5×10-4 to 8.5×10-4 kg water / (kg wb. S), whilst the MW power increased from 100 to 300W.