*Corresponding author: vishal2041990@gmail.com (ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5287-6915)
Bottle Gourd slabs of 10×10×3 mm, 10×10×5 mm and 10×10×7 mm were dehydrated by fluidized bed drying technique with a sample size of 100 g at air temperature of 50, 60 and 70°C at air velocity of 10m/s. The drying rate is high for the slabs of 10×10×3mm at 70°C. Moisture diffusivity of bottle gourd slabs dried under fluidized bed drying conditions was found in the range of 1.03 × 10−09 to 6.18 × 10−09 m2/s water activity varied from 0.318 to 0.393 for fluidized bed dryer. The product of fluidized bed dryer at 70°C (10×10×3mm) has best quality in terms of water activity. The experimental data was fitted to page model other than the mathematical models available in the literature. The fluidized bed dried product for 10×10×5 mm slab at 60˚C was of best quality in terms of color.
Drying Behavior and modeling of three different slabs (cubes) of Bottle gourd at three different temperature and at constant velocity was studied. The result of this study indicate that Samples dried in fluidized bed dryer at lower temperature and for small thickness were of best quality in terms of proximate analyses.
Fluidized bed drying, moisture diffusivity, proximate analysis, mathematical modelling, water activity
