Effect of Drying Conditions on Properties of Dried Sugar Beet

Drying behavior of sugar beet was investigated in a bench scale fluidized bed dryer with an energy carrier (3 mm glass beads) and a freeze dryer. The effect of the type of dryer (fluidized bed dryer freeze dryer) on the rate of drying and properties of dried sugar beet were studied. It was found that drying could be useful for the storage of sugar beet for a long time before processing, but the removal of more than 90% of its initial water content is necessary for the dried sugar beet to conserve its sugar content and other properties during storage. The results of experiments in two different dryers showed that drying time in a fluidized bed dryer with energy carriers is much less than that of a freeze dryer, but the dried matter obtained by the freeze dryer has a better appearance in comparison to fluidized bed dryer. Also, the shrinkage of drying material with a change of moisture content was investigated and it was seen that a linear relation with reasonable error between these two variables was evaluated. The results are useful for mathematical modeling of the process.