Simulation of the drying curves of a meat-based product: effect of the external resistance to mass transfer Original Research Article

A simple mathematical model solved by the separation of variables method is proposed to simulate the drying curves of a meat-based product (sobrassada), taking into account the influence of the external mass transfer resistance. By using the experimental data of a drying curve obtained at 14 °C and 85% relative humidity (RH), both effective diffusivity and external mass transfer coefficients were simultaneously identified (2.86×10−11 m2/s and 3.99×10−3 m/s, respectively). The proposed model allowed the accurate simulation of the drying curves of this meat-based product at different RHs (from 70% to 85% RH) (average %var=99.8%) and even when samples had a different chemical composition (%var=98.1%) to that used to carry out the parametric identification.