MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF DIFFERENT DRYING METHODS OF DRIED OKRO SLICE

Drying is an essential process that is used in preserving okro sample. This study investigates the modelling of dried okro slice using different drying methods. Freshly harvested okro fruits were cut transversely into slices (0.5, 1.5 and 2.0 cm) and dried using three different drying methods; sun, solar and oven at 40, 45 and 50 ºC. Drying of okro occurred in the falling rate period. Newton, Pabis, and Page and Henderson models were used to describe the drying of okro. An appropriate model was selected based on highest R 2 , least values of X2 , Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Biased Error (MBE). Page model described the drying behaviour of okro slice 0.5 cm satisfactorily having the highest R2 of 0.999 and lowest value of X2 (0.152 x10-8), RMSE (4.5 x10-6) and that of MBE (-3.089 x10-4).