Effect of Pre-treatments using Potassium Metabisulphide and Alkaline Ethyl Oleate on the Drying Kinetics of Apricots

The effect on the drying time of apricot samples investigated, when a pre-treatment applied using a combination of potassium metabisulphide and alkaline ethyl oleate solutions resulted in a reduction in drying time compared to untreated samples. The drying data were fitted to the various thin-layer models. All the models were compared using three statistical parameters, i.e. coefficient of determination r2, reduced mean square of the deviation χ2 and root means square error ERMS. Comparing the r2, χ2 and ERMS values of all models, the logarithmic model represented drying characteristics better than other models. The effective diffusivity varied from 675·8 to 1261·4 μm2 s−1.