Modelling the Kinetics of Thin Layer Drying of Cocoa Beans in a Passive Solar Dryer under Nsukka Climatic Condition
Drying experiments were conducted on cocoa beans using a mixed mode passive solar dryer and open sun drying methods. The drying data obtained from the experiments were fitted into ten different published thin layer drying models. The performance of these models was examined by comparing the coefficient of correlation (R2), reduced Chi-square ( ) and root mean square error (RMSE) between the experimental and predicted values of moisture ratios. Among these models, the Midili-Kucuk model showed good agreement with the data obtained from the experiments for both the solar drying and the open-air sun drying method under the conditions tested.
Keywords: Cocoa beans, Modelling, Solar drying, Sun drying, Moisture ratios.
