Cinética da secagem de cacau.

Abstract

During the beneficiary of cocoa, the drying stages play na important role to determine quality and final price of the product. Taking this in mind this article treats the kinetic of this subprocess. The results obtined from the experiments were processed and used to build up mathematical empirical models characterized for this process. Beside the characteristic curves, we report important parameters for the drying stage, such as the drying rate coefficient for each experiment. Finally a general equation is presented which can be applied for the following conditions: 50 T 700C and inicial moisture content of 1.368 (d.b.). This equation also allows prediction of drying time of cocoa for a given moisture content or just simulates the characteristic drying curves.