The rst and second law analyses of thermodynamic of

pumpkin drying process

E. Kavak Akpinar
a,
*
, A. Midilli
b
, Y. Bicer
a
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Firat University, 23279 Elazig, Turkey
b
Energy Division, Mechanical Engineering Department, Nigde University, 51200 Nigde, Turkey
Received 25 June 2004; accepted 21 December 2004
Available online 17 February 2005
Abstract
This paper is concerned with the thermodynamic analyses of single layer drying process of pumpkin slices via cyclone type dryer.
Using the rst law of thermodynamics, energy analysis was performed to estimate the ratios of energy utilization. However, exergy
analysis was accomplished to determine the location, type, and magnitude of exergy losses during drying process by applying the
second law of thermodynamics. It was concluded that the exergy losses went up with the increase of the energy utilization in both
trays and drying chamber. The most exergy losses took place during the drying of pumpkin slices on the rst tray. It is emphasized
that pumpkin slices are suciently dried in the ranges between 60 and 80 C and 20% and 10% of relative humidity at 1 and
1.5 m s
1
of drying air velocity during 5.6612 h despite the exergy losses of 01.165 kJ s
1
.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Drying; Thermodynamic analyses; Energy and exergy; Pumpkin
1. Introduction
Drying is dened as a process of moisture removal
due to simultaneous heat and mass transfer. It is also
a classical method of food preservation, which provides
longer shelf-life, lighter weight for transportation and
smaller space for storage (Ertekin & Yaldiz, 2004).
Thermodynamics plays an important role to perform
the energy and exergy analyses of the industrial pro-
cesses. The rst law is widely used in engineering prac-
tice and is the basis of the heat-balance method of
analysis that is commonly used in engineering systems
performance analysis. However, the second law involves
the reversibility or irreversibility of processes and is a
very important aspect in the exergy method of energy
systems analysis (Bayrak, Midilli, & Nurveren, 2003;
Dincer & Cengel, 2001). In this regard, energy is a
fundamental concept of thermodynamics and one of
the most signicant aspects of the engineering analysis
(Bayrak et al., 2003; Dincer, 2000). However exergy is
the maximum amount of work, which can be produced
by a system or a ow of matter or energy as it comes
to equilibrium with a reference environment. Rather,
exergy is consumed or destroyed due to irreversibility
in any real process (Dincer, 2002). In the drying indus-
try, the goal is to use a minimum amount of energy
for maximum moisture removal for the desired nal
conditions of the product. If so, the quality and quantity
of energy as well as heat and mass transfer should be
investigated throughout the drying processes. In fact,
in order to nd out the energy interactions, and thermo-
dynamic behaviour of drying air throughout a drying
chamber, the energy and exergy analyses of drying
process should be performed by employing the rst
0260-8774/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2004.12.011
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 424 237 5343; fax: +90 424 241
5526.
E-mail addresses: eakpinar@rat.edu.tr, kavakebru@hotmail.com
(E.K. Akpinar), midilli@nigde.edu.tr (A. Midilli), ybicer@rat.edu.tr
(Y. Bicer).
www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng
Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331
and second laws of thermodynamics. Recently, many
studies covering mathematical modeling and kinetics
of the drying process have been undertaken by several
researchers (Akpinar, Bicer, & Midilli, 2003; Akpinar,
Bicer, & Yildiz, 2003; Akpinar, Midilli, & Bicer,
2003a, Akpinar, Midilli, & Bicer, 2003b; Dincer,
Hussain, Sahin, & Yilbas, 2002; Dincer & Hussain,
2002; Doymaz, 2004; Ertekin & Yaldiz, 2004; Midilli,
2001; Midilli & Kucuk, 2003a; Midilli, Kucuk, & Yapar,
2002; Midilli, Olgun, Rzayev, & Ayhan, 2000; Togrul &
Pehlivan, 2003). However, there is limited information
and research on the energy and exergy analysis of drying
process in literature (Akpinar, 2004; Akpinar, Midilli, &
Bicer, 2005; Dincer & Sahin, 2004; Midilli & Kucuk,
2003b; Syahrul, Hamdullahpur, & Dincer, 2002a,
Syahrul, Hamdullahpur, & Dincer, 2002b, 2002c;
Syahrul, Dincer, & Hamdullahpur, 2003; Tiris, Tiris,
& Dincer, 1996; Topic, 1995).
Therefore, this work, as diering from other works,
concentrates on the energy and exergy analysis of the
single layer drying of pumpkin slices by using cyclone
type dryer in the scope of the rst and second law of
thermodynamics. It is believed that such a study will
contribute to the pumpkin producers to remove their
problems related to energy and energy throughout dry-
ing process. Consequently, it is emphasized that, consid-
ering exergy losses on the whole process, pumpkin slices
would be suciently dried at the ranges between 60 and
80 C and 20% and 10% of relative humidity at 1 and
1.5 m s
1
of drying air velocity during 5.6612 h despite
the exergy losses of 1.165 kJ s
1
.
2. Materials and procedure
2.1. Experimental set-up
The detailed information on the experimental system
and its design was presented in the previous studies
(Akpinar et al., 2003a, 2003b; Akpinar et al., 2003).
Briey,a schematic diagram of the experimental system
covering the cyclone type dryer was shown in Fig. 1.
The experimental system consists of fan, resistance and
heating control systems, air-duct, drying chamber in cy-
clone type, and measurement instruments. Air fan has a
power of 0.04 kW. The airow was adjusted through a
variable speed blower and manually operated an adjust-
able ab in entrance. The heating system consisted of
an electric 4000 W heater placed inside the duct. A
rheostat, adjusting the drying chamber temperature,
Nomenclature
A area, m
2
c
p
specic heat, kJ kg
1
K
1
c
p
average mean specic heat, kJ kg
1
K
1
EUR energy utilization ratio, %
_
Ex exergy, kJ s
1
F shape factor
g gravitational acceleration, m s
2
g
c
constant in Newtons law
h enthalpy, kJ kg
1
J Joule constant
_ m mass ow rate, kg s
1
N number of species
P pressure, kPa
_
Q net heat, kJ s
1
_
Q
h
energy taken from heater, kJ s
1
_
Q
gda
the energy gained to drying air by heater,
kJ s
1
_
Q
Lcp
the heat loss throughout the connection pipe
between heater and drying chamber, kJ s
1
s specic entropy, kJ kg
1
K
1
t time, h
T temperature, K
u specic internal energy, kJ kg
1
v specic volume, m
3
kg
1
V velocity, m s
1
w specic humidity, g g
1
_
W energy utilization, kJ s
1
z altitude coordinate, m
Subscripts
a air
c chemical
cp connection pipe
da drying air
dc drying chamber
f fan
h heater
i inlet, inow
L loss
mp moisture of product
o outlet, outow
sat saturated
t1 the rst tray
t2 the second tray
wp moisture removed from the product
1 surrounding or ambient
Greek symbols
/ relative humidity, %
g
Ex
exergetic eciency, %
l chemical potential, kJ kg
1
E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331 321
was used to supply heating control. The drying chamber
was constructed from sheet iron in 600 mm diameter
and 800 mm height cylinder. Drying air was tangentially
entered in drying chamber. In this way, the samples were
dried in swirl ow in place of uniform ow (Akpinar
et al., 2003a, 2003b; Akpinar et al., 2003).
2.2. Experimental procedure
All results obtained from the experiments were used
to perform the energy and exergy analyses of this drying
process. The experimental procedure can be briey de-
scribed as follows: The fresh pumpkin slices were used
in the experiments. Before drying process, the pumpkins
were peeled, cut into slices of 5 mm thickness and 35 mm
diameters with a mechanical cutter. After the dryer is
reached at steady state conditions for operation temper-
atures, the samples are put on the tray of dryer and
dried there. Drying experiments were carried out at 60,
70, and 80 C drying air temperatures in 1 and 1.5 m/s
of drying air velocity. The weights of the pumpkin slices
were approximately gone down from 200 g to 14 g by
using the convective cyclone type drier. In the initial
conditions, it was experimentally determined that the
pumpkin samples contained the moisture of 93.70%.
The last moisture content of the samples was calculated
depending on the basis of weight changes of the samples.
It was found that nal moisture contents of the samples
were approximately 6% at 60 and 70 C, and 45% at
80 C in 1.5 and 1 m s
1
. During the experiments, ambi-
ent temperature and relative humidity, inlet and outlet
temperatures of drying air in the duct and dryer cham-
ber were recorded. In the measurements of tempera-
tures, J type iron-constantan thermocouples were used
with a manually controlled 20-channel automatic digital
thermometer (ELIMKO, 6400, Turkey), with reading
accuracy of 0.1 C. A thermo hygrometer (EXTECH,
444731, China) was used to measure humidity levels at
various locations of the system. The velocity of air pass-
ing through the system was measured by a 015 m/s
range anemometer (LUTRON, AM-4201, Taiwan). In
the velocity measurements, the values of the velocity in
the center of the drying chamber were taken into ac-
count. The tangential airow was across the layer during
drying process. Moisture loss was recorded at 20 min
intervals during drying for determination of drying
curves by a digital balance (BEL, Mark 3100, Italy) in
the measurement range of 03100 g and an accuracy of
0.01 g. The eect of airow on the weight measure-
ments was little. Therefore, this eect was calibrated.
It is possible to see more detailed information on the
experimental procedure of this process in the previous
studies (Akpinar et al., 2003a, 2003b; Akpinar et al.,
2003).
3. Analysis
A thermodynamic model proposed by Midilli and
Kucuk (2003b) for energy and exergy analysis of single
layer drying process was applied to this study. In the
rst and second law analyses of thermodynamics, single
layer drying process was considered as steady-ow
process.
3.1. The rst law analysis
In the scope of the rst law of thermodynamics, en-
ergy analysis of single layer drying process of pumpkin
slices is performed to better nd out the energy aspect
and behavior of drying air throughout the cyclone type
dryer. The air conditioning process throughout the
pumpkin drying includes the heating, cooling, and
humidication processes. Actually, the air conditioning
Fig. 1. Experimental set-up. (1) Drying chamber, (2) 1st tray, (3) 2nd tray, (4) digital balance, (5) observed windows, (6) digital thermometer, (7) the
balance bar, (8) control panel, (9) thermocouples, (10) digital thermometer and channel selector, (11) rheostat, (12) resistance, (13) fan, (14) wet and
dry thermometers, (15) adjustable ab and (16) duct.
322 E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331
processes can be modeled as steady-ow processes that
are analyzed by employing the steady-ow conservation
of mass (for both dry air and moisture) and conserva-
tion of energy principles (Midilli & Kucuk, 2003b).
For the energy and exergy analyses of single layer
drying process, the following equations are generally
employed to compute the mass conservation of drying
air and moisture, the energy conservation of the process,
the relative humidity and enthalpy of drying air (Midilli
& Kucuk, 2003b; Cengel & Boles, 1994).
General equation of mass conservation of drying air:
X
_ m
dai

X
_ m
dao
1
where, _ m
dai
and _ m
dao
dene the inlet and the outlet mass
ow of drying air, respectively.
General equation of mass conservation of moisture:
X
_ m
wi
_ m
mp

X
_ m
wo
or
X
_ m
dai
w
i
_ m
mp

X
_ m
dai
w
o
2
where, _ m
wi
and _ m
wo
is the inlet and the outlet mass ow
of humidity respectively; _ m
mp
, the mass ow of moisture
of the product; w
i
, the inow specic humidity; w
o
, the
outow specic humidity.
General equation of energy conservation:
_
Q
_
W
X
_ m
dao
h
o

V
2
o
2

X
_ m
dai
h
i

V
2
i
2

3
where h is enthalpy; V, velocity;
_
Q, heat;
_
W, work.
The changes in kinetic energy of the fan were taken
into consideration while the potential and kinetic energy
in other parts of the process were neglected.
The relative humidity:
/
wP
0:622 wP
sat@T
4
where, w denotes the specic humidity, P atmospheric
pressure, P
sat@T
the saturated vapor pressure of drying
air.
The enthalpy of drying air:
h c
p
da
T
da
wh
sat@T
5
where, c
p
da
denes the specic heat of drying air, T
da
drying air temperature and h
sat@T
enthalpy of the satu-
rated vapor.
3.1.1. Determination of the fan outlet conditions
The enthalpy equation of the fan outlet in Eq. (6) was
derived (Midilli & Kucuk, 2003b) by using Eqs. (1)(3):
h
fo

_
W
f

V
2
fo
2

1000

1
_ m
da

h
fi
6
where, h

characterizes the enthalpy of drying air at the

inlet of the fan, h
fo
the enthalpy at the outlet of the fan,
V
fo
the drying air velocity at the outlet of the fan,
_
W
f
fan
energy and _ m
da
mass ow of drying air.
Considering the values of dry-bulb temperature and
enthalpy from Eq. (6), the specic and relative humidity
of drying air at the outlet of the fan are found by using
the Psychrometric Chart.
3.1.2. Determination of the outlet conditions of the heater
In order to determine the outlet conditions of the hea-
ter, it is assumed that there is no heat loss throughout
the connection pipe between the fan and the heater,
and thus, the inlet conditions of the heater are approxi-
mately equal to the outlet conditions of the fan, as given
in Eq. (7).
w
hi
w
fo
T
hi
T
fo
/
hi
/
fo
h
hi
h
fo
7
where, subscript hi denes the heater inlet, fo fan outlet.
Using the values of the outlet and inlet temperatures of
the heater, the energy transmitted to drying air from
heater may be calculated by the following equation.
_
Q
gda
_ m
da
c
p
da
T
ho
T
hi
8
where,
_
Q
gda
refers to the energy gained to drying air by
heater, T
hi
and T
ho
drying air temperatures at the inlet
and outlet of the heater, respectively.
The relative humidity (/
ho
) and enthalpy (h
ho
) at the
outlet of the heater are respectively calculated using Eqs.
(4) and (5).
3.1.3. Determination of the inlet conditions of drying
chamber
The inlet temperature and relative humidity of drying
air at the inlet of dryer should be rstly taken into con-
sideration in order to determine the inlet conditions of
drying chamber. However, the temperature measure-
ments showed that little heat losses was taken place
between the heater outlet and dryer inlet. Because of
the heat losses in this part of the system, it should be
denitely emphasized that the outlet conditions of the
heater would not be equal to the inlet conditions of dry-
ing chamber. On the other words, the values of inlet
temperatures of drying chamber are approximately
710 C less than outlet temperatures of the heater.
Hence, the quantity of the heat losses throughout the
connection pipe between the heater and drying chamber
can be estimated by the following equation.
_
Q
Lcp
_ m
da
c
p
da
T
ho
T
dci
9
where,
_
Q
Lcp
denes the heat loss throughout the connec-
tion pipe between heater and drying chamber, T
dci
temperature of drying air at the inlet of drying chamber.
Furthermore, the inlet conditions of drying chamber are
determined depending on inlet temperatures and specic
humidity of drying air by using the Psychrometric Chart.
E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331 323
3.1.4. Determination of the outlet and inlet conditions of
the rst and second trays
Firstly, it is assumed that the inlet conditions of the
rst tray are equal to the inlet conditions of drying
chamber. Throughout the mathematical expressions, it
should be known and taken into consideration that the
mass ow rates of drying air passed through the rst
and second trays are equal to each other (Fig. 2).
For the 1st tray:
w
t1i
w
dci
T
t1i
T
dci
/
t1i
/
dci
h
t1i
h
dci
and
_ m
da
t1i
_ m
da
t2i
_ m
da
10
Using Eqs. (1) and (2), the values of the specic humid-
ity at the outlet of the rst and second trays can be de-
rived as,
for the 1st tray,
w
t1o
w
t1i

_ m
wp
_ m
da
11
where, w
t1i
denotes the specic humidity at the inlet of
the rst tray, _ m
wp1
the mass ow rate of the moisture re-
moved from pumpkin slices on the rst tray,
for the 2nd tray,
w
t2o
w
t2i

_ m
wp
_ m
da
12
where, w
t2i
explains the specic humidity at the inlet of
the second tray, _ m
wp2
the mass ow rate of the moisture
removed from pumpkin slices on the second tray.
The relative humidity and enthalpy of drying air at
the outlet of the rst and second trays were respectively
estimated using Eqs. (4) and (5). Furthermore, in order
to calculate the relative humidity and enthalpy of drying
air at the outlet of dryer and the second tray by using
Eqs. (4) and (5), it is assumed that the outlet conditions
of the rst tray are equal to the inlet conditions of the
second tray, and the outlet conditions of the second tray
are equal to the outlet conditions of drying chamber.
During dehumidication process at the trays, the heat
used can be estimated by employing the following equa-
tions, using the Psychrometric Chart.
For the 1st tray:
_
Q
t1
_ m
da
h
t1i@T
h
t1o@T
13
For the 2nd tray:
_
Q
t2
_ m
da
h
t2i@T
h
t2o@T
14
where, h
t1i@T
, h
t1o@T
, h
t2i@T
and h
t2o@T
identify orderly
the enthalpies at the inlet and outlet of the rst and sec-
ond trays. Note h
t1i@T
= h
dci@T
in Eq. (13).
Moreover, for drying chamber,
_
Q
dc
_ m
da
h
dci@T
h
dco@T
15
During drying process, the energy utilization ratios of
the trays and drying chamber, which were early dened
in the literature (Midilli & Kucuk, 2003b), can be deter-
mined by means of Eqs. (16)(18) using the Psychromet-
ric Chart.
For the 1st tray:
EUR
t1

_ m
dat1i
h
t1i@T
h
t1o@T

_ m
da
c
p
da
T
dci
T
hi

16
For the 2nd tray:
EUR
t2

_ m
dat2i
h
t2i@T
h
t2o@T

_ m
da
c
p
da
T
dci
T
hi

17
Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of the drying chamber, the trays, and connection pipe.
324 E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331
For drying chamber:
EUR
dc

_ m
da
h
dci@T
h
dco@T

_ m
da
c
p
da
T
dci
T
hi

18
3.2. The second law analysis
In the scope of the second law analysis of thermody-
namics, total exergy inow, outow and losses of the
trays and drying chamber were estimated. The basic
procedure for exergy analysis of drying chamber is to
determine the exergy values at steady-state points and
the reason of exergy variation for the process (Ahern,
1980; Bejan, 1988; Midilli & Kucuk, 2003b). The exergy
values are calculated by using the characteristics of the
working medium from a rst-law energy balance (Szar-
gut, Morris, & Steward, 1988). For this purpose, the
general form of exergy equation (Ahern, 1980; Midilli
& Kucuk, 2003b; Szargut et al., 1988) was employed.
Exergy u u
1

internal energy
T
1
s s
1

entropy

P
1
J
v v
1

work

V
2
2gJ
momentum
z z
1

g
g
c
J
gravity

X
c
l
c
l
1
N
c
chemical
E
i
A
i
F
i
3T
4
T
4
1
4T
1
T
3

radiation emission
19
where, the subscript 1denotes the reference conditions.
There are variations of this general exergy equation.
In the analyses of many systems, some, but not all, of
the terms shown in Eq. (19) are used. Since exergy is en-
ergy available from any source, the terms can be devel-
oped using electrical current ow, magnetic elds, and
diusional ow of materials. One common simplica-
tion is to substitute enthalpy for the internal energy
and Pv terms that are applicable for steady ow systems.
Eq. (19) is often used under conditions where the grav-
itational and momentum terms are neglected. In addi-
tion to these, the pressure changes in the system are
also neglected because of v v
1
. In this case, Eq. (19)
is derived as:
Exergy _ m
da
c
p
T T
1
T
1
ln
T
T
1

20
Applying Eq. (20), the inow, and outow of exergy can
be determined depending on the inlet and outlet temper-
atures of the trays and drying chamber. However, the
exergy losses throughout the process are determined
by Eq. (21).
Exergy loss Exergy inflow Exergy outflow
X
_
Ex
L

X
_
Ex
i

X
_
Ex
o
21
The equation of exergy inow can be written for the
trays and drying chamber as below:
For exergy inow of the rst tray:
_
Ex
t1i
_ m
dat1i
c
p
da
T
t1i
T
1
T
1
ln
T
t1i
T
1

22
For exergy inow of second tray:
_
Ex
t2i
_ m
dat2i
c
p
da
T
t2i
T
1
T
1
ln
T
t2i
T
1

23
Fig. 3. Band diagram of exergy balance.
E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331 325
For exergy inow of drying chamber:
_
Ex
dci
_ m
da
c
p
da
T
dci
T
1
T
1
ln
T
dci
T
1

24
where, c
p
da
denes the average specic heat of drying air.
Here, _ m
da
_ m
dat1i
_ m
dat2i
.
However, the equation of exergy outow can be also
written.
For exergy outow of the rst tray:
_
Ex
t1o
_ m
dat1o
c
p
da
T
t1o
T
1
T
1
ln
T
t1o
T
1

25
For exergy outow of the second tray:
_
Ex
t2o
_ m
dat2o
c
p
da
T
t2o
T
1
T
1
ln
T
t2o
T
1

26
For exergy outow of drying chamber:
_
Ex
dco
_ m
da
c
p
da
T
dco
T
1
T
1
ln
T
dco
T
1

27
Here, _ m
da
_ m
dat1o
_ m
dat2o
.
Moreover, the quantity of the exergy losses is calcu-
lated by applying Eq. (21). Using the exergy calculations
of this process, the Exergy Band Diagram was drawn as
shown in Fig. 3.
The exergetic eciency can be dened as the ratio of
the product exergy (exergy loss of each tray) to exergy
inow for the trays. However, it is explained as the ratio
of exergy outow to exergy inow for drying chamber.
Considering this denition, the exergetic eciencies of
each tray and drying chamber can be estimated. Thus,
the general form of exergetic eciency is written as
(Midilli & Kucuk, 2003b),
Exergetic efficiency
Exergy inflow Exergy loss
Exergy inflow
g
Ex
1
Ex
L
Ex
i
28
4. Results and discussion
The thermodynamic analyses of single layer drying
process of pumpkin slices were performed by using data
from the experiments, and the results obtained from
these calculations were presented in Figs. 417, Tables
1 and 2, and discussed in detail.
V=1.5 m/s
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400
Drying time (s)
W
e
i
g
h
t

l
o
s
s
*
1
0
3

(
k
g
)
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
Fig. 4. Variation of weight loss with drying time at 1.5 m s
1
of drying
air.
V=1 m/s
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400 43200
Drying time (s)
W
e
i
g
h
t

l
o
s
s
*
1
0
3

(
k
g
)
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
Fig. 5. Variation of weight loss with drying time at 1 m s
1
of drying
air.
V=1.5 m/s
0
1
2
3
4
5
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400
Drying time (s)
E
n
e
r
g
y

u
t
i
l
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=60 C, tray1
T=60 C, tray2
T=70 C, tray1
T=70 C, tray2
T=80 C, tray1
T=80 C, tray2
Fig. 6. Variation of energy utilization as a function of drying time at
1.5 m s
1
of drying air for the trays.
V=1 m/s
0
1
2
3
4
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400 43200
Drying time (s)
E
n
e
r
g
y

u
t
i
l
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=60 C, tray1
T=60 C, tray2
T=70 C, tray1
T=70 C, tray2
T=80 C, tray1
T=80 C, tray2
Fig. 7. Variation of energy utilization as a function of drying time at
1 m s
1
of drying air for the trays.
326 E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331
Figs. 4 and 5 present the variations of weight loss as a
function of drying time at temperatures of 60, 70 and
80 C based on the velocity of drying air. It was noticed
from these gures that temperature and velocity of dry-
ing air aected on drying rates of pumpkin samples. The
velocity of drying air has little eect on the increase of
drying rate.
Figs. 6 and 7 display the variations of energy utiliza-
tion as a function of drying time for each temperature
and velocity of drying air. Also, Figs. 8 and 9 show
the variations of energy utilization as a function of
weight loss, and Table 1 presents the maximum and
minimum values of energy analysis of this process.
When these gures were analyzed, the energy utilization
was high and getting higher at the beginning of drying
process due to the high moisture ratio of the samples
V=1.5 m/s
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220
Weight loss*10
3
(kg)
E
n
e
r
g
y

u
t
i
l
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
Fig. 8. Variation of energy utilization as a function of weight loss at
1.5 m s
1
of drying air for the trays.
V=1 m/s
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220
Weight loss*10
3
(kg)
E
n
e
r
g
y

u
t
i
l
i
z
a
t
i
o
n

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
Fig. 9. Variation of energy utilization as a function of weight loss at
1 m s
1
of drying air for the trays.
V=1.5 m/s
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400
Drying time (s)
E
U
R

(
%
)
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
T=60 C, chamber
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=70 C, chamber
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
T=80 C, chamber
Fig. 10. Variation of energy utilization ratio as a function of drying
time at 1.5 m s
1
of drying air for the drying chamber and the trays.
V=1 m/s
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400 43200
Drying time (s)
E
U
R

(
%
)
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
T=60 C, chamber
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=70 C, chamber
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
T=80 C, chamber
Fig. 11. Variation of energy utilization ratio as a function of drying
time at 1.5 m s
1
of drying air for the drying chamber and the trays.
V=1.5 m/s
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400
Drying time (s)
E
x
e
r
g
y

l
o
s
s

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=60, chamber
T=60, tray1
T=60, tray2
T=70, chamber
T=70, tray1
T=70, tray2
T=80, chamber
T=80, tray1
T=80, tray2
Fig. 12. Variations of exergy loss with drying time at 1.5 m s
1
of
drying air for the drying chamber and the trays.
V=1 m/s
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400 43200
Drying time (s)
E
x
e
r
g
y

l
o
s
s

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=60, chamber
T=60, tray1
T=60, tray2
T=70, chamber
T=70, tray1
T=70, tray2
T=80, chamber
T=80, tray1
T=80, tray2
Fig. 13. Variations of exergy loss with drying time at 1 m s
1
of drying
air for the drying chamber and the trays.
E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331 327
V=1.5 m/s
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220
E
x
e
r
g
y

l
o
s
s

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
Weight loss*10
3
(kg)
Fig. 14. Variations of exergy loss with weight loss at 1.5 m s
1
of
drying air for the trays.
V=1 m/s
0
0.25
0.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220
E
x
e
r
g
y

l
o
s
s

(
k
J
/
s
)
T=80 C, tray 1
T=80 C, tray 2
T=70 C, tray 1
T=70 C, tray 2
T=60 C, tray 1
T=60 C, tray 2
Weight loss*10
3
(kg)
Fig. 15. Variations of exergy loss with weight loss at 1 m s
1
of drying
air for the trays.
V=1.5 m/s
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400
Drying time (s)
E
x
e
r
g
y

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
T=60 C
T=70 C
T=80 C
Fig. 16. Variation of exergetic eciency as a function of drying time in
drying chamber at 1.5 m s
1
of drying air for the drying chamber.
V=1 m/s
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 4800 9600 14400 19200 24000 28800 33600 38400 43200
Drying time (s)
E
x
e
r
g
y

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
T=60 C
T=70 C
T=80 C
Fig. 17. Variation of exergetic eciency as a function of drying time in
drying chamber at 1 m s
1
of drying air for the drying chamber.
Table 1
The results of energy analysis
_
Q
Lcp
(kJ s
1
)
_
Q
dci

_
Q
t1i
(kJ s
1
)
_
Q
t1
(kJ s
1
)
_
Q
t2
(kJ s
1
)
_
Q
dc
(kJ s
1
) EUR
t1
(%) EUR
t2
(%) EUR
dc
(%)
T = 60 C, V = 1.5 m/s 3.609601 16.020583 03.699840 03.573504 07.273345 023.09 022.30 045.40
T = 60 C, V = 1 m/s 1.953023 10.517598 03.124837 02.854418 05.979255 029.71 027.14 056.85
T = 70 C, V = 1.5 m/s 3.158400 20.540045 04.173600 03.948000 08.125642 020.32 019.23 039.56
T = 70 C, V = 1 m/s 1.802790 13.823181 03.154883 02.884464 06.039348 022.82 020.86 043.69
T = 80 C, V = 1.5 m/s 2.932800 25.738514 04.308960 04.105920 08.419068 016.75 015.96 032.71
T = 80 C, V = 1 m/s 2.253488 17.130052 03.353190 03.181925 06.535115 019.57 018.57 038.15
Table 2
The results of exergy analysis
Parameters Conditions
_
Ex
dci

_
Ex
t1i
(kJ s
1
)
_
Ex
t1o

_
Ex
t2i
(kJ s
1
)
_
Ex
t2o

_
Ex
dco
(kJ s
1
)
_
Ex
t1loss
(kJ s
1
)
_
Ex
t2loss
(kJ s
1
)
_
Ex
dcloss
(kJ s
1
)
g
Ext1
(%) g
Ext2
(%) g
Exdc
(%)
T = 60 C, V = 1.5 m/s 0.885 0.5320.885 0.2730.885 00.353 00.259 00.612 60.14100 51.24100 30.81100
T = 60 C, V = 1 m/s 0.573 0.2890.573 0.1110.573 00.283 00.176 00.461 50.47100 38.44100 19.40100
T = 70 C, V = 1.5 m/s 1.426 0.9221.426 0.5401.426 00.503 00.381 00.885 64.66100 58.59100 37.89100
T = 70 C, V = 1 m/s 0.971 0.5900.971 0.3200.971 00.380 00.270 00.650 60.83100 54.29100 33.02100
T = 80 C, V = 1.5 m/s 2.198 1.5522.198 1.0322.198 00.646 00.519 01.165 70.61100 66.52100 46.97100
T = 80 C, V = 1 m/s 1.465 0.9681.465 0.5841.465 00.496 00.384 00.880 66.11100 60.35100 39.90100
328 E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331
while it quickly decreased because of the low moisture
content of the samples towards the end of the process.
The pumpkin slices in the rst tray decreased from
approximately 200 g to 14 g in the ranges of 0
4.308960 kJ s
1
of energy utilization. However, the
pumpkin slices in the second tray brought down from
approximately 200 g to 14 g in the ranges of 0
4.105920 kJ s
1
. It was realized that the pumpkin sam-
ples on the rst tray consumed more energy than those
on the second tray. Moreover, drying time decreased
and the energy utilization increased with an increase of
drying air temperature and velocity.
Figs. 10 and 11 exhibit the variation of the energy uti-
lization ratio (EUR) as a function of drying time for
each of drying temperature and velocity. The values of
EUR are summarized in Table 1. It was determined
that, using Eqs. (16)(18), EUR varied between 0%
and 23.09% in the rst tray, 0% and 22.30% in the sec-
ond tray and 0% and 45.40% in drying chamber for
60 C and 1.5 m s
1
of drying air. For 60 C and
1 m s
1
of drying air, EUR altered between 0% and
29.71% in the rst tray, 0% and 27.14% in the second
tray and 0% and 56.85% in the drying chamber. For
70 C and 1.5 m s
1
of drying air, EUR changed be-
tween 0% and 20.32% in the rst tray, 0% and 19.23%
in the second tray and 0% and 39.56% in drying cham-
ber. For 70 C and 1 m s
1
of drying air, EUR varied
between 0% and 22.82% in the rst tray, 0% and
20.86% in the second tray and 0% and 43.69% in drying
chamber. For 80 C and 1.5 m s
1
of drying air, EUR
changed between 0% and 16.75% in the rst tray, 0%
and 15.96% in the second tray and 0% and 32.71% in
drying chamber. Finally, for 80 C and of 1 m s
1
of
drying air, EUR altered between 0% and 19.57% in
the rst tray, 0% and 18.57% in the second tray and
0% and 38.15% in drying chamber. These values pointed
out that EUR of the rst tray was higher than that of
the second tray and EURs of drying chamber and trays
decreased with the increase of velocity and temperature
of drying air. Furthermore, it can be said that the mois-
ture contents of the samples in the rst and second trays
eected on the energy utilization in the trays.
Table 2 presents the maximum and minimum values
of the exergy inow and outow and loss of drying
chamber, the rst and second trays. The rates of exergy
inow were calculated using Eqs. (22)(24) depending
on the ambient and inlet temperatures. The exergy
inow to the rst tray was constant since the inlet tem-
perature of drying air in drying chamber and the ambi-
ent temperature were kept in constant. The exergy
inow to drying chamber varied between 0.573 and
2.198 kJ s
1
depending on the experimental conditions.
However, the exergy outows were added up with Eqs.
(25)(27). These values were estimated between 0.289
and 2.198 kJ s
1
for the rst tray, 0.111 and 2.198 kJ s
1
for the second tray and drying chamber. It was observed
that the exergy inow to the drying chamber and trays
went up almost linearly as well as the exergy outow
from trays and drying chamber with the increase of its
inlet temperatures and drying air velocity. Moreover,
it can be said that the increase and decrease of the exergy
inow and outow throughout drying process is based
on the moisture content of the samples in the trays.
Additionally, the exergy losses calculated by Eq. (21)
were found at the ranges of 00.646 kJ s
1
for the rst
tray, 00.519 kJ s
1
for the second tray and 0
1.165 kJ s
1
for drying chamber. These values showed
that the exergy losses from the second tray were lower
than those from the rst tray because of the less energy
utilized for dehumidication process in the second tray.
The exergy losses in the drying chamber, the rst and the
second trays increased with the increase of temperature
and velocity of drying air. While Figs. 12 and 13 show
the variation of exergy loss with drying time for each
temperature and velocity, Figs. 14 and 15 indicate the
variation of exergy losses with weight loss for each tem-
perature and velocity of drying air. It was observed from
these gures that the exergy losses to and from the rst
tray, the second tray and drying chamber quickly de-
creased in the beginning drying process and then rather
slowly decreased.
Figs. 16 and 17 show the variation of the exergetic
eciency in drying chamber as a function of drying
time. The exergetic eciencies of the trays and the
chamber were summarized on Table 2. The exergetic
eciency for each component was calculated by using
Eq. (28) based on the inow, outow and loss of exergy.
The exergetic eciencies of the trays and the chamber
linearly increased depending on the experimental condi-
tions with the increase of drying time. For 60 C and
1.5 m s
1
of drying air, the exergetic eciencies varied
between 60.14 and 100% in the rst tray, 51.24% and
100% in the second tray and 30.81% and 100% in drying
chamber while the exergetic eciencies changed between
50.47% and 100% in the rst tray, 38.44% and 100% in
the second tray and 19.40% and 100% in drying chamber
for 60 C and 1 m s
1
. However, for 70 C and 1.5 m s
1
of drying air, the exergetic eciencies altered between
64.66% and 100% in the rst tray, 58.59% and 100%
in the second tray and 37.89% and 100% in drying
chamber while the exergetic eciencies varied between
60.83% and 100% in the rst tray, 54.29% and 100%
in the second tray and 33.02% and 100% in drying
chamber for 70 C and 1 m s
1
. For 80 C and
1.5 m s
1
of drying air, the exergetic eciencies changed
between 70.61% and 100% in the rst tray, 66.52% and
100% in the second tray and 46.97% and 100% in drying
chamber while those varied between 66.11% and 100%
in the rst tray, 60.35% and 100%, in the second tray
and 39.90% and 100% in drying chamber for 80 C
and 1 m s
1
. These values point out that the exergetic
eciency of drying chamber and the trays increased
E.K. Akpinar et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 72 (2006) 320331 329
with the increase of drying air velocity and temperature.
It was realized that the exergy losses were equal to zero
at the point where the exergetic eciency was estimated
as 100% due to discontinuity of drying process in the
system. However, the exergetic eciency of the rst tray
was higher than that of the second tray and drying
chamber. The reason of this is that the values of exergy
inow to the rst tray were equal to those to drying
chamber. Also, the values of exergy inow to the second
tray were equal to those of the exergy outow from the
rst tray. That is to say, the values of exergy losses of the
rst tray were higher than those of the second tray, but
also the values of exergy inow to the rst tray were
higher than those of the second tray. Therefore, the
exergetic eciency of the rst tray was higher than that
of the second tray. Hence, it is said that the energy taken
from the heaters was productively utilized for the drying
of pumpkin slices on the rst tray. That is, the highest
exergetic eciency was obtained during the drying of
products on the rst tray.
5. Conclusion
Thermodynamic analyses of the single layer drying
process of pumpkin slices were performed in the scope
of this study. Taking into consideration the results from
these analyses, the following remarks may be concluded:
The pumpkin slices were suciently dried at the
ranges between 60 and 80 C of drying air tempera-
ture, and 10% and 20% of relative humidity, at 1
and 1.5 m s
1
of drying air velocity during 5.6612 h.
The pumpkin slices on the rst tray consumed more
energy than those on the second tray. The EUR of
the rst tray was higher than that of the second tray.
Therefore, it is said that the energy taken from the
heaters was productively utilized for single layer dry-
ing of pumpkin slices on the rst tray. As an impor-
tant note, it is said that the energy utilization ratio
would be assumed as an important parameter to ana-
lyze the utilization of energy in the single layer drying
processes.
The maximum value of the exergy inow to the sys-
tem was obtained as 2.198 kJ s
1
. However, the
exergy losses went up with the increase of the energy
utilization in both trays and drying chamber. The
most exergy losses took place during the drying of
pumpkin slices on the rst tray. And also, the highest
exergetic eciency was obtained during the drying of
pumpkin slices on the rst tray.
It can be inferred that it is necessary to show the vari-
ations of exergy with drying time in order to deter-
mine when and where the maximum and minimum
values of the exergy losses took place during the sin-
gle layer drying process.
Consequently, it is suggested that the order, struc-
ture, and moisture content of the products on the trays
should be taken into consideration to decrease the
energy utilization and the exergy losses.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Firat University for nancial and
technical supports.
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