Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223

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Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food

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Research paper

Quality assessment and modeling of microwave-convective drying of

lemon slices
Omid Mirzabeigi Kesbi, Morteza Sadeghi*, Seyed Ahmad Mireei
Department of Biosystems Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, 84156-83111, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Juice production is the most important process used for citrus fruits. However, drying process applied in
Received 1 December 2014 the production of powders, flakes, and slices is also of great importance. Drying behavior of lemon slices
Received in revised form was investigated using convective (50, 55 and 60
C inlet air temperatures), microwave (specific power of
8 November 2015
0.97 W g1), and combined microwave-convective (specific powers of 0.97 and 2.04 W g1 assisted with
Accepted 29 December 2015
Available online 31 December 2015
50, 55 and 60
C inlet air temperatures) dehydration methods. The quality was assessed in terms of L* a*
b*, total color difference (DE), chroma, Hue angle, and rehydration capacity measurements. In addition to
higher drying rate, the quality parameters for microwave-convective treatments were significantly
Keywords:
Color
higher than those for other methods. Drying kinetic curves indicated a constant rate period followed by a
Mathematical modeling falling rate period in both convective and microwave drying methods. However, for microwave-
Microwave-convective drying convective treatments a falling rate period was observed with the exception of a very short acceler-
Rehydration capacity ating period at the start. Mathematical modeling of the drying kinetics was conducted by applying the
Specific power commonly used drying models to the experimental data. According to the statistical parameters, Midilli
et al. model presented the best prediction for the drying kinetics.
© 2016 Asian Agricultural and Biological Engineering Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights
reserved.

1. Introduction
Citrus fruits with an annual production of approximately 102
million tonnes worldwide rank first among other fruits (Ladaniya,
2008). They are grown commercially in more than 50 countries
around the world (Ladaniya, 2008). Citrus fruits have a great
nutritional potential because of their high content of vitamins, fi-
bers, and flavonoids and terpenes (Monselise, 1986). Despite the
fact that the juice production is the most important process used
for citrus fruits (Kimball, 1999), in order to promote their con-
sumption, drying process development for production of powders,
flakes and slices is also noteworthy (Dıaz et al., 2003).
Lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f) and lime (Citrus aurantiflia
(Chrism) Swing.) are the two most familiar citrus fruits grown with
excellent quality in semi-arid irrigated and coastal areas (Ladaniya,
2008). In year 2010e2011, with about 473,000 tonnes of annual
production of lemon and lime, Iran ranked ninth producing country
in the world (FAOSTAT, 2012). In Iran, lemon and lime are grown
commonly in Hormozgan and Fars provinces in southern regions of
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sadeghimor@cc.iut.ac.ir (M. Sadeghi).
the country and have always played an important social and
economical role in people's lives.
The traditional method of open-sun drying is still employed in
the dehydration of Iranian lime and lemon. In this method, expo-
sure to sunlight is required so that a characteristic flavor and
moisture is achieved. However, the process has hygienic problems;
additionally, a very humid climate causes fluctuations in the
product quality (Chen et al., 2005).
Drying methods considerably affect the color, texture, aroma,
porosity and rehydration characteristics of the dehydrated mate-
rials. It has been pointed out that the dehydrated products do not
keep their visco-elastic behavior due to structural damages that
occur during drying (Chen et al., 2005). In assessing the quality of
dried lemon, special attention should be paid to the organoleptic
parameters considering their sensitive nature in drying conditions.
The lemon has an acidic pulp and fine texture, is pale yellow in
color, and limonene being its main aroma compound (Moufida and
Marzouk, 2003). Thus, rehydration capacity and color indices must
be considered as two important quality factors in drying of lemon.
Drying is a complicated process with simultaneous heat and
mass transfer, and food drying is far more complicated because of
the variation in the composition and physical structure of the food
materials. Therefore, effective mathematical models along with

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eaef.2015.12.003
1881-8366/© 2016 Asian Agricultural and Biological Engineering Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 O. Mirzabeigi Kesbi et al. / Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223
Nomenclature
L* a* b* CIE color parameters
a, b, c, g, n, k, k1, k2 Empirical coefficients in the drying
models
MR Dimensionless moisture ratio
MR Average of experimental moisture ratios
M Moisture content, g g1 (d.b.)
Me Equilibrium moisture content, g g1 (d.b.)
M0 Initial moisture content, g g1 (d.b.)
MW Microwave
R2 Coefficient of determination
RMSE Root mean square of error
t Drying time, s
T Inlet hot air temperature,
C
Wd Dried sample weight, g
Wg Water gain percentage, %
Wt Rehydrated sample weight, g
DE Total color difference
Subscripts
exp Experimental
pre Predicted
experimental studies can be of help in design, simulation, optimi-
zation, energy integration, and the control of drying process. The
mathematical models fall into three categories, namely: the theo-
retical, semi-theoretical and empirical. The results obtained by
theoretical models may be very complicated and consequently,
require some assumptions that do not meet the actual drying sys-
tems. Instead, semi-theoretical and empirical models are
commonly used in mathematical modeling of thin layer drying of
fruits, vegetables, seafood and other agricultural products drying
(Hii et al., 2009). They are practical and give sufficiently good re-
sults (Erbay and Icier, 2010).
Employing microwave radiation in drying process causes in-
ternal quick heating as a result of dipoles rotation and ion move-
ment during drying the moist body. This heating method is
particularly advantageous in thermal drying, since favorable
properties of water and other polar liquids generate heat in the wet
parts of the drying material, and hence extracting the moisture.
This method considerably reduces drying time and promotes the
quality of the dried sample. When internal heating extracts mois-
ture and brings it to the surface, the presence of a convective flow
can remove it from the surface rapidly. In other words, the com-
bined microwave-convective method could be more useful (Funebo
and Ohlsson, 1998; Maskan, 2000; Tulasidas et al., 1993). Re-
searchers have studied the drying behavior of various natural ma-
terials using microwave method, and evaluated different empirical
models to describe the thin layer drying characteristics (Karaaslan
and Tunçer, 2008; Kouchakzadeh and Shafeei, 2010; McMinn
et al., 2005; McMinn, 2006; Wang et al., 2007).
In spite of the considerable number of studies reported in the
literature for drying of various agricultural products, studies per-
formed on lemon drying are very limited and researchers have not
noted this matter greatly. In a single study, a closed-type solar dryer
was used to dehydrate lemon slices and study its effect on quality
parameters such as L* a* b* color indices, whiteness index and
water activity of the dried product (Chen et al., 2005).
The present study was aimed at: 1) modeling the drying
behavior of lemon slices under convective, microwave, and
217
combined microwave-convective drying methods, and 2) investi-
gating the influence of drying methods on some quality factors
such as L* a* b* values, total color difference, chroma, Hue angle and
rehydration capacity of the samples.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Material preparation and procurement
Lemon samples were obtained from a local market in Isfahan
(central Iran) and stored at 6
C until the experiments were con-
ducted. Prior to the drying experiments, the samples were placed in
the room, where the experiments took place, for 24 h and cut
perpendicular to the fruit axis into approximately equally-sized
slices (5 mm thick and 50 mm diameter). Lemon slices (with
peel) had the initial moisture content of about 5.66 g g1 (d.b.). This
was determined by using vacuum drying method at 70
C until a
constant weight was achieved (AOAC, 1996). Biochemical analyses
were conducted to provide data on chemical composition of the
raw material (AOAC, 1996). Crude protein (% total nitrogen  5.70)
was determined by Kjeldahl method using 5 g. Fat, ash, and fiber
were determined by AOAC official methods (Numbers 922.06,
942.05 and 985.29, respectively). Total carbohydrate content was
obtained by difference [100 e
(moisture þ ash þ protein þ fat þ fiber)]. The analyses were con-
ducted on the peeled samples with two replications. Water content,
carbohydrates, fat, protein, fiber, and ash were 95.69 ± 0.400,
1.90 ± 0.010, 1.72 ± 0.020, 0.26 ± 0.002, 0.21 ± 0.003, and
0.22 ± 0.001 g per 100 g lemon flesh, respectively.
2.2. Experimental set-up
Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the drying system and
instrumentations used to conduct the experiments. A 2450 MHz
domestic microwave (MW) oven (LG, MC-8047; LG Electronics Inc.,
Seoul, South Korea) with 180, 360, 540, 720, 900 W ranges of power
and cavity dimensions of 400 (W)  380 (D)  260 (H) mm was
modified and developed as the MW-assisted hot air dryer. Since the
ranges of power are the nominal values, the accurate power of the
system for two desired levels in the experiments (180 and 360 W)
was measured by the power measurement procedure test (IMPI-2
liter test) (Buffler, 1993). The power measurement was run three
times and the final power was reported as the mean of three
readings. In this way, the accurate powers corresponding to the
nominal values of 180 and 360 W were determined as 185.5 ± 1.01
and 388.5 ± 2.97 W, respectively. Pretests were conducted to
determine the required power levels according to mass of lemon
slices in each experiment (about 190 g for 10 slices). No burning on
the samples was observed during the drying process.
In the center of the oven chamber base, a circular area of
170 mm diameter was drilled in regular 4 mm diameter holes. A
cone shape pipe was fixed at the bottom of the drilled area to
supply hot air into the chamber. Sample basket (200  200 mm)
was suspended by nylon wires from a digital balance (Kern 572-57,
±0.1 g accuracy, KERN & Sohn GmbH, Balingen, Germany) bracket
right on top of the holes in the chamber. This made possible
continuous sample weight monitoring. The sample weights were
next sent to the PC through a RS232 port and recorded. A rectan-
gular area (60  100 mm) was also drilled in regular 5 mm holes in
the left wall of the chamber and a duct was fixed to lead the air out.
The drying air was supplied by a centrifugal fan, powered by a 2
hp 3-phase motor. The air was blown by a blower into an electrical
heater through an 80 mm diameter metal duct. A 1e3-phase fre-
quency inverter (TECO, 7300 CV, ±0.01 Hz accuracy; TECO Electric
& Machinery Co. Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan) was used to adjust and control
218 O. Mirzabeigi Kesbi et al. / Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223
Fig. 1. A schematic view of the experimental set-up and instrumentations of the combined microwave-convective drying system.
the airflow rate in the range of 0e0.4 m3 s1. Ten 0.7 kW electrical
coils were used in the heating chamber to supply enough thermal
energy to heat up the drying air to the desired temperature. The
coils were connected to the electric mains (power supply) through
a temperature controller. The controller was designed to control
the temperature of hot air with accuracy of ±0.1
C and acted ac-
cording to increase/decrease the electrical current to the heating
elements. The temperature of the inlet hot air was measured by a
thermometer (PT100, 0.1
C resolution; Testo GmbH & Co., Lenz-
kirch, Germany).
Prior to the drying tests, the air velocity was measured under
the basket (top of the holes) by an anemometer (LT lutron, AM-
4204, ±0.1 m s1 accuracy; Lutron Electronic Enterprise Co., Ltd.,
Taipei, Taiwan) and adjusted through changing the coming elec-
trical frequency to the blower by the inverter. An ultrasonic hu-
midifier (10480 model, MEHAVARAN Co., Ltd., Tehran, Iran)
equipped with a microcontroller was used to adjust and control the
relative humidity of the isolated drying room wherein the experi-
ments were conducted. The ambient relative humidity was
measured by a sensor (Philips H8302 model; Philips Electronics,
Eindhoven, The Netherlands) with accuracy of ±2% and linearity of
±2%, for an operating span of 20e95% RH.
2.3. Drying procedures
For each experiment, about 190 g (10 slices) initial sample was
placed in the holding basket (monolayer) floor. The experiments
were carried out in three methods: 1) Convective (hot air) drying at
inlet hot air temperatures of 50, 55, 60
C, 2) MW drying at power of
185.5 W (specific power of 0.97 W g1), and 3) combined MW-
convective drying at inlet hot air temperatures of 50, 55, 60
C
and MW output powers of 185.5 and 388.5 W (specific MW powers
of 0.97 and 2.04 W g1, respectively) with three replicates. All ex-
periments were performed by the setup shown in Fig. 1 with MW
power off in convective, and blower/heater off in MW drying
methods. The samples were dried to reach the final moisture
content of approximately 0.15 g g1 (d.b.). The air velocity (inside
the cavity; under the basket) and relative humidity were kept at
constant levels of 1.5 m s1 and 25%, respectively. By continuous
sample weight monitoring, the drying rate curves (drying rate
versus moisture content) were obtained.
2.4. Mathematical modeling
In order to model the drying kinetic behavior of lemon slices, the
experimental drying data were fitted to 11 commonly used math-
ematical models (listed in Table 1) using non-linear regression
analysis. In the models equation, MR represents the dimensionless
moisture ratio, namely MR ¼ (M-Me)/(M0-Me), where M is the
moisture content of the product at each moment, M0 is the initial
moisture content of the product, and Me is the equilibrium mois-
ture content. The Me was measured by having the samples dry in
the apparatus for an extended period of time until no significant
weight loss was detected. In this method the value of Me was
approximately 0.05 g g1 d.b. for drying treatments.
The goodness of fits was evaluated using the determination
coefficient (R2) and the root mean square of error (RMSE). The
higher the value of R2 and the lower the value of RMSE, the better is
the goodness of fit. All mathematical calculations including deter-
mination of models coefficients, R2, and RMSE were performed in
MATLAB software (The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA, USA, 1998).
2.5. Color measurement
The chromaticity of the samples was measured before and after
drying in terms of the CIE color parameters of L* a* b*, where L*
expresses lightness (from 0 to 100), a* represents color of green
(-a*) to red (þa*), and b* represents color of blue (-b*) to yellow
(þb*). The minimum changes in color parameters during drying
process, with respect to the values for the fresh sample indicates
higher quality of the dried material.
A simple digital imaging method cited in the literature (Afshari-
Jouybari and Farahnaky, 2011; Yam and Papadakis, 2004) was uti-
lized for color measurement. The samples were placed in a specific
chamber provided for taking photos by a digital camera (PREMIER,
DC-4347, 4 Mega pixels quality). The system of lighting included
two D65 lamps (Shenzhen 3nh Technology Co., Ltd., Guangdong,
China); which is a standard illuminant commonly used in food
 O. Mirzabeigi Kesbi et al. / Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223 219

Table 1
Mathematical models given by various authors for thin layer drying of materials.

No. Model name Model equation Reference

1 Newton (Lewis) MR ¼ exp (-k t) (Lewis, 1921)

2 Page MR ¼ exp (-k tn) (Page, 1949)
3 Modified Page MR ¼ exp [-(k t)n] (White et al., 1981)
4 Henderson and Pabis MR ¼ a exp (-k t) (Henderson and Pabis, 1961)
5 Logarithmic MR ¼ a exp (-k t) þ c (Yagcioglu et al., 1999)
6 Two-term MR ¼ a exp (-k1 t) þ b exp (-k2 t) (Henderson, 1974)
7 Two term exponential MR ¼ a exp (-k t) þ (1-a) exp (-k a t) (Sharaf-Eldeen et al., 1980)
8 Wang and Singh MR ¼ 1 þ at þ bt2 (Wang and Singh, 1978)
9 Diffusion approach MR ¼ a exp (-k t) þ (1-a) exp (-k b t) (Yaldiz et al., 2001)
10 Midilli et al. MR ¼ a exp (-k tn) þ b t (Midilli et al., 2002)
11 Verma et al. MR ¼ a exp (-k t)þ(1-a) exp (-g t) (Verma et al., 1985)

research, 45.0 cm long mounted on two sides of a frame inside the
chamber on either side of the lemon slices 30.5 cm above and at an
angle of 45
to the samples plane (Yam and Papadakis, 2004). After
taking the photos with TIFF format, they were transferred to a
computer. Then, the L* a* b* values were determined in Photoshop
software (Adobe Photoshop CS3). For this purpose, three slices
were randomly selected from each test and one random reading
point was recorded for each slice. Hence, with three replications,
there were nine recorded values for each treatment. The system
was calibrated against the standard color plates (RAL).
From the L* a* b* values, the total color difference (DE), chroma,
and Hue angle were also calculated, respectively by equations
(1)e(3) and applied to describe the color changes during drying
(Maskan, 2001; Esehaghbeygi et al., 2014):
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2  2 
DE ¼ L*0  L* þ a*0  a* þ b*0  b*
where, subscript “0” refers to the color reading of fresh lemon.
Fresh lemons were considered as the reference and a larger DE
denotes greater color change from the reference material.
 0:5
Chroma ¼ a*2 þ b*2
The chroma value indicates the degree of saturation of color and
is proportional to the strength of the color (Maskan, 2001).
 
b*
Hue angle ¼ tan1
a*
Hue angle represents a more green color (when Hue
angle > 90
) to an orange-red color (when Hue angle < 90
).
2.6. Determination of rehydration capability
In order to measure the rehydration capacity for each treatment,
about 10 g dried sample was allowed to rehydrate at 50
C in 500 ml
distilled water for 60 min. Then, the sample was extracted and
balanced after surface water reduction. The percentage of the
weight gained was determined by equation (4) (Maskan, 2000):
wt  wd
Wg ð%Þ ¼  100
wd
where, wd is the sample weight before soaking (g), wt is the sample
weight after soaking (g), and wg (%) is the water gain percentage.
2.7. Experimental design and statistical analysis
Convective and combined experiments were analyzed using a
completely randomized design in factorial layout (3  3) with three
replications. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was per-
formed to determine significant effects of experimental factors on
drying durations, color parameters values and rehydration capac-
ities of the dried samples. The analysis was carried out in SAS sta-
tistical software (SAS Institute Inc., NC, USA). When the F-test
indicated statistical significance at P ¼ 0.05 probability level,
treatment means were separated by Duncan's multiple range test at
confidence level of 95%.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Drying kinetics
As shown in Table 2, drying duration of lemon slices was
considerably reduced about 20 and 30 times when applying spe-
2
(1) cific powers of 0.97 and 2.04 W g1 compared with the corre-
sponding values for convective drying method. This is due to the
volumetric heating induced by MW application, which in turn
creates an outward flux of rapidly escaping vapor, and consequently
an increase in drying rate. Similar results have been reported for
several natural materials such as grape (Tulasidas et al., 1993), apple
and mushroom (Funebo and Ohlsson, 1998), banana (Maskan,
(2) 2000), orange slices (Dıaz et al., 2003), and apple and strawberry
(Contreras et al., 2008). It is observed that increase in inlet hot air
temperature had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on reducing drying
time only for convective drying method. It can also be found that
despite practically reducing drying duration to about half when
(3) increasing specific power from 0.97 to 2.04 W g1, the differences
observed were not significant (P > 0.05). This is due to large values
of drying time in the convective treatments. The standard de-
viations of drying time; ranging from 56 to 70 min, for convective
drying method are even higher than the drying durations for the
treatments dried under specific power of 2.04 W g1.
Representative drying rate curves (drying rate versus moisture
content) are illustrated in Fig. 2. For combined drying treatments at
inlet hot air temperature of 55
C, drying rate curves had only one
falling rate period with the exception of a very short accelerating
period (warming-up) at the start (Fig. 2a). This is in accordance
with prior microwave-assisted drying studies (Wang et al., 2007;
Feng et al., 1999; Ozkan et al., 2007; Wang and Sheng, 2006).
High initial moisture content of lemon slices results in higher ab-
(4)
sorption of MW, and hence higher drying rates. Moisture content
reduction during drying decreases MW absorption and conse-
quently, induces a fall in the drying rate. However, under convective
and MW drying methods, respectively shown in Fig. 2b and c, the
process occurred in one constant rate period followed by a falling
rate period after the moisture
́ content reached to a critical amount
of approximately 2 g g1 (d.b.). Drying in the falling rate period
involves two processes including the movement of moisture within
the material to the surface, and removal of the moisture from the
220 O. Mirzabeigi Kesbi et al. / Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223

Table 2
Drying durations and coefficients of Midilli et al. model for different dehydration conditions.

Specific power (W g1) Air temperature (
C) Drying duration (min) Model constants

a b k n
Aa b 6 4
0 50 1850 ±70 1.002 4.66  10 3.78  10 0.6470
5 4
0 55 1150B ± 56 1.003 1.30  10 4.57  10 0.1448
5 14
0 60 980C ± 61 1.014 1.57  10 2.22  10 0
5 5
0.97 50 80D ± 3 0.990 2.34  10 3.20  10 1.303
5 5
0.97 55 78D ± 2 0.978 3.46  10 8.98  10 1.167
5 5
0.97 60 73D ± 4 0.992 2.41  10 2.17  10 1.365
5 4
2.04 50 44D ± 1 1.022 3.43  10 3.32  10 1.118
5 4
2.04 55 45D ± 3 1.019 4.20  10 3.54  10 1.100
5 4
2.04 60 38D ± 1 1.021 3.49  10 2.45  10 1.179
4
0.97 e 145 ± 7 1.174 1.20  10 0.1 0
a
The means followed by the common superscript uppercase letter do not differ statistically at 5% significant level according to Duncan's multiple-range test.
b
Table values represent mean ± one standard deviation (s.d.).

Fig. 2. Variations in drying rate with moisture content for lemon slices dehydrated under (a) combined microwave-convective drying method at inlet hot air temperature of 55
C,
(b) convective drying and (c) microwave drying methods.

surface. The first process occurs poorly for treatments dehydrated
under convective, and the second one occurs poorly for MW drying
method. In other words, for the MW drying method alone due to
lack of air flow over the material the external resistance against
moisture transfer is high, while for convective drying treatments
the internal resistance is high compared with the corresponding
value for MW treatments.
3.2. Modeling of drying behavior
The performance results of fitting the 11 mathematical models
to the experimental moisture ratios indicated that all models had
an acceptable goodness of fit to the experimental data (Tables 3 and
4). However, the worst and the best degree of accuracies for pre-
dicting variations in moisture ratio with time were achieved by
Newton (Lewis) model and Midilli et al. model for each treatment,
respectively. The lowest R2 (0.8790) and the highest RMSE (0.1052)
belonged to Newton (Lewis) model under MW drying at specific
power of 0.97 W g1. Henderson and Pabis model ranked second in
terms of the most unsatisfactory results. Comparing Tables 3 and 4
indicates that modeling the drying behavior of lemon slices by
semi-theoretical and empirical models led to the best results under
combined microwave-convective drying method. Table 2 shows the
coefficients of Midilli et al. model (a, b, k, and n) for all drying
treatments. Better prediction of the experimental drying data by
Midilli et al. model has been demonstrated for other crops such as
 O. Mirzabeigi Kesbi et al. / Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223 221

Table 3 relationships have also been reported by Karaaslan and Tunçer

Goodness of fit parameters for various mathematical models under convective and (Karaaslan and Tunçer, 2008) for drying spinach in combined MW-
microwave drying methods.
convective drying method.
No.a Convective drying Microwave Fig. 3 typically shows the comparison between the predicted
drying moisture ratio values by Midilli et al. model and the experimental
50
C 55
C 60
C 0.97 W g1 data for drying lemon slices at inlet hot air temperature of 60
C and
R 2
RMSE R 2
RMSE R 2
RMSE R2 RMSE specific power of 2.04 W g1. As indicated, there was a good cor-
respondence between the experimental and the predicted mois-
1 0.9654 0.0507 0.9399 0.0662 0.8997 0.0863 0.8790 0.1052
2 0.9779 0.0406 0.9687 0.0478 0.9637 0.0519 0.9907 0.0292 ture ratios. Similar curves could be also drawn for other treatments.
3 0.9779 0.0406 0.9687 0.0480 0.9645 0.0516 0.9909 0.0289
4 0.9668 0.0498 0.9456 0.0633 0.9167 0.0791 0.9214 0.0849 3.3. Quality indices assessment
5 0.9976 0.0134 0.9970 0.0148 0.9891 0.0286 0.9950 0.0213
6 0.9976 0.0134 0.9970 0.0149 0.9887 0.0291 0.9789 0.0440
7 0.9783 0.0402 0.9662 0.0499 0.9528 0.0595 0.9712 0.0514
3.3.1. CIE color parameters
8 0.9917 0.0249 0.9927 0.0231 0.9850 0.0294 0.9948 0.0201 The color parameters of fresh and dried samples including the L*
9 0.9938 0.0216 0.9930 0.0227 0.9884 0.0294 0.9758 0.0471 a* b*, DE, chroma, and Hue angle values under different drying
10 0.9985 0.0107 0.9976 0.0135 0.9892 0.0286 0.9958 0.0197 conditions, are shown in Table 6 (mean of nine readings). Low
negative a* value (17.56) and high positive b* value (67.77),
11 0.9938 0.0216 0.9709 0.0463 0.9877 0.0304 0.9848 0.0373
a
The numbers devoted to the models have been specified in Table 1. respectively confirm greenness and yellowness, and consequently a

Table 4
Goodness of fit parameters for various mathematical models under combined microwave-convective drying method.

No.a 0.97 W g1 2.04 W g1

50 C 55 C 60 C 50
C 55
C 60
C

R2 RMSE R2 RMSE R2 RMSE R2 RMSE R2 RMSE R2 RMSE

1 0.9541 0.0639 0.9593 0.0591 0.9462 0.0698 0.9747 0.0465 0.9728 0.0483 0.9694 0.0517
2 0.9963 0.0180 0.9952 0.0205 0.9968 0.0169 0.9978 0.0137 0.9967 0.0169 0.9984 0.0117
3 0.9963 0.0180 0.9952 0.0205 0.9968 0.0169 0.9978 0.0137 0.9967 0.0169 0.9984 0.0117
4 0.9720 0.0497 0.9748 0.0466 0.9685 0.0535 0.9874 0.0329 0.9849 0.0360 0.9856 0.0356
5 0.9986 0.0110 0.9996 0.0059 0.9981 0.0132 0.9995 0.0063 0.9995 0.0064 0.9992 0.0083
6 0.9951 0.0208 0.9942 0.0224 0.9948 0.0218 0.9974 0.0150 0.9962 0.0181 0.9979 0.0136
7 0.9929 0.0251 0.9924 0.0256 0.9924 0.0263 0.9969 0.0164 0.9955 0.0197 0.9973 0.0152
8 0.9982 0.0125 0.9994 0.0073 0.9967 0.0172 0.9987 0.0106 0.9990 0.0092 0.9978 0.0137
9 0.9933 0.0243 0.9989 0.0097 0.9961 0.0189 0.9979 0.0135 0.9984 0.0116 0.9967 0.0171
10 0.9998 0.0042 0.9999 0.0033 0.9998 0.0045 0.9998 0.0043 0.9997 0.0053 0.9999 0.0034
11 0.9975 0.0149 0.9989 0.0098 0.9961 0.0189 0.9979 0.0135 0.9984 0.0116 0.9979 0.0136
a
The numbers devoted to the models have been specified in Table 1.

pharmaceutical powders (McMinn et al., 2005), lactose powder high (104.49
) Hue angle (>90
) indicating a more green for fresh
(McMinn, 2006), parsley (Soysal et al., 2006), and spinach
(Karaaslan and Tunçer, 2008).
Multiple regressions were also undertaken for accounting inlet
hot air temperature (T) effect on the coefficients of Midilli et al.
model. The variations in the model coefficients with T for specific
MW powers of 0 (convective drying), 0.97 and 2.04 W g1 are
shown in Table 5. The moisture content of lemon slices under
combined MW-convective drying method could be predicted using
these expressions within the range of selected conditions. The same

Table 5
Relationships between Midilli et al. model coefficients and inlet hot air temperature
at various specific powers.

Specific power (W g1) Coefficients

0 a ¼ 0.0002 T2 e 0.0208 T þ 1.542

b ¼ 107 T2 e 105 T þ 0.0004
k ¼ -105 T2 þ 0.0011 T - 0.0299
n ¼ 0.0071 T2 e 0.851 T þ 25.326
0.97 a ¼ 0.0005 T2 e 0.0552 T þ 2.488
b ¼ 4  107 T2 e 5  105 T þ 0.0013
k ¼ 3  106 T2 þ 0.0003 T - 0.0075
n ¼ 0.0067 T2 e 0.7286 T þ 21.033
2.04 a ¼ 104 T2 e 0.0111 T þ 1.327
b ¼ 3  107 T2 e 3  105 T þ 0.0009
Fig. 3. Comparison between experimental moisture ratio data and predicted values by
k ¼ 3  106 T2 þ 0.0003 T - 0.007
Midilli et al. model for lemon slices dehydrated under combined microwave-
n ¼ 0.0019 T2 e 0.2073 T þ 6.633
convective drying method at specific power of 2.04 W g1 and temperature of 60
C.
222 O. Mirzabeigi Kesbi et al. / Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223

Table 6
The color parameters, color difference (DE), Chroma, and Hue angle values of fresh and dried lemon slices (mean of nine readings).

Fresh sample L* a* b* DE Chroma Hue angle

Specific power (W g1) Air temperature (
C) 66.00 ± 3.61a 17.56 ± 2.68 67.77 ± 3.11 0 70.06 ± 3.10 104.49 ± 2.19
Ab A BCD AB BC
0 50 45.78 ± 2.95 1.00 ± 2.30 50.77 ± 2.44 32.40 ± 3.38 50.83 ± 2.43 88.85 CD ± 2.54
0 55 44.67D ± 5.85 0.56A ± 2.30 48.78 CD ± 4.24 34.19A ± 5.39 48.83C ± 4.24 89.33D ± 2.61
0 60 42.89D ± 1.96 0.78A ± 2.05 D
48.44 ± 2.24 A
35.34 ± 2.73 C
48.49 ± 2.24 89.05D ± 2.38
0.97 50 54.22A ± 2.99 4.22 BC ± 2.10 54.22 AB ± 2.28 22.60 DE ± 2.56 54.42 AB ± 2.33 94.39 AB ± 2.08
0.97 55 54.67A ± 5.10 6.89C ± 5.06 56.56A ± 5.81 19.36E ± 8.81 57.13A ± 6.25 96.62A ± 4.48
0.97 60 52.78 AB ± 2.95 5.78C ± 4.05 56.33A ± 4.90 21.34E ± 6.06 56.74A ± 5.17 95.59A ± 3.77
2.04 50 50.67 BC ± 2.18 2.00 AB ± 1.00 53.67 AB ± 3.94 26.28 DC ± 2.24 53.71 AB ± 3.91 92.16 BC ± 1.15
2.04 55 50.00 BC ± 1.87 1.98 AB ± 3.22 52.33 BC ± 2.96 27.35 DC ± 3.66 52.45 BC ± 3.05 91.92C ± 3.38
2.04 60 48.89C ± 2.62 1.78 AB ± 4.97 51.78 BCD ± 4.35 28.47 BC ± 6.00 52.02 BC ± 4.34 91.57C ± 5.63
0.97 e 47.67 ± 4.21 1.22 ± 3.51 52.56 ± 3.58 29.17 ± 5.18 52.56 ± 3.52 91.17 ± 3.81

L* lightness, a* greenness-redness, and b* blueness-yellowness of the samples color

a
Table values represent mean ± one standard deviation (s.d.).
b
For each column, the means followed by the common superscript uppercase letter do not differ statistically at 5% significant level according to Duncan's multiple-range
test.

lemons. L* value was also approximately high (66.00) for fresh
sample.
The L* and b* values decreased and a* increased regardless of the
drying method. However, there was a significant difference among
L* values in different methods (P < 0.05), and the least change
compared to the reference belonged to the treatments dehydrated
under combined MW-convective method with specific power of
0.97 W g1. It has been stated that the variation in the brightness of
dried samples can be taken as a measurement of browning (Avila
treatments.
and Silva, 1999; Ibarz et al., 1999). Therefore, long drying duration
in convective treatments and high temperatures generated by MW
when applying specific power of 2.04 W g1 are probably the rea-
sons for the samples discoloration. Funebo and Ohlsson (Funebo
and Ohlsson, 1998) and Ozkan, Akbudak (Ozkan et al., 2007) re-
ported a negative effect on color quality of dried samples (apple and
mushroom, and spinach, respectively) as a result of overheating
when applying high value ranges of MW power.
In terms of a*, treatments dried under convective method
significantly showed the highest difference with respect to the
initial sample (P < 0.05) (Table 6). This parameter reached its
positive values for these treatments showing that they have lost
their greenness more and becoming redder when dried. Although,
for all samples dehydrated under combined MW-convective and
MW drying methods, a* values were negative; similar to the
brightness index, the least significant damage to a* value occurred
after drying with MW-convective method with specific power of
0.97 W g1.
Decrease of the b* value confirms losing yellowness of the initial
sample after drying by any technique (Maskan, 2001). Similar to the
L* and a*, the values of b* related to MW-convective method with
specific power of 0.97 W g1 were significantly higher than other
treatments (P < 0.05).
changes were found in chroma between the fresh and the dried
lemon slices (Table 6). This reveals the lack of yellow color stability
in lemon. However, chroma values of the dried samples under MW-
convective method with specific power of 0.97 W g1 were the
closest ones to the reference. The values of chroma under this
condition at all temperatures, and MW-convective method with
the specific power of 2.04 W g1 at temperature of 50
C were
significantly higher than the corresponding values for other
Hue angle was less than 90
only for treatments dehydrated by
convective method, and consequently it suggested reduction from a
more green color (Hue angle > 90
) to an orange-red color (Hue
angle < 90
) of dried samples (Waliszewski et al., 1999). It is
observed that the values of this color index for convective method
is significantly less than the corresponding values for other treat-
ments. Therefore, better quality of dried lemon slices is concluded
by applying MW power. This finding has been also demonstrated by
several researchers (Maskan, 2000; Karaaslan and Tunçer, 2008;
Soysal, 2004).
Quick energy absorption by samples in combined MW-
convective method causes much shorter drying times. As a result,
samples do not have enough time for browning, and hence color
does not change considerably. This is why; the color parameters
change in the combined drying method with specific power of
0.97 W g1 is lower than the change occurred for microwave drying
method. It is observed that for each MW power, changes in inlet hot
air temperature had no significant effect on the color parameter
values (P > 0.05) (Table 6). For example, under specific power of
0.97 W g1, the values of L* are 54.22A ± 2.99, 54.67A ± 5.10, and
52.78AB ± 2.95, respectively at air temperatures of 50, 55, 60
C
which are not significantly different.

3.3.2. Total color difference, chroma, and Hue angle
The total color difference (DE), which is a combination of the L*
* *
a b values, is a colorimetric parameter extensively used to char-
acterize the variation of colors in foods during processing (Maskan,
2001). As shown in Table 6, for treatments dehydrated under MW
and combined MW-convective drying methods; especially for MW-
convective method with specific power of 0.97 W g1, the lowest
color changes (the lowest DE values) were observed in comparison
with the fresh sample. As presented, under this condition the least
significant values of DE are 22.60DE ± 2.56, 19.36E ± 8.81, and
21.34E ± 6.06, respectively at temperatures of 50, 55 and 60
C.
As mentioned, the chroma value indicates the degree of satu-
ration of color and is proportional to the strength of the color. Large
3.3.3. Rehydration capacity
Rehydration is commonly used as a quality index for dried food
materials. It is a complex index revealing physical and chemical
changes caused by the drying operation (Esehaghbeygi et al., 2014;
Feng et al., 1999). Rehydration capacities of lemon slices dehydrated
by all drying methods are shown in Table 7. According to the results,
there was a significant difference between rehydration ability of the
samples dried by convective method and those dried using MW
application method (P < 0.05). The higher values of rehydration
capacity were observed in combined and MW drying methods. This
finding might be related to the possible structural collapse in the
samples dried by convective drying method due to exposure to hot
air for a long time.
 O. Mirzabeigi Kesbi et al. / Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food 9 (2016) 216e223
Table 7
Rehydration capacity of dried lemon slices under various drying conditions.
Specific power (W g1) Air temperature (
C) Weight gain percent (%)
0 50 55.80Ba ± 7.74b
0 55 57.36B ± 3.72
0 60 61.33B ± 8.57
0.97 50 92.63A ± 5.76
0.97 55 86.56A ± 9.26
0.97 60 95.77A ± 3.80
2.04 50 86.82A ± 9.93
2.04 55 92.30A ± 5.91
2.04 60 94.16A ± 1.44
0.97 e 87.20 ± 4.22
a
The means followed by the common superscript uppercase letter do not differ
statistically at 5% significant level according to Duncan's multiple-range test.
b
Table values represent mean ± one standard deviation (s.d.).
4. Conclusions
Applying microwave power reduced the drying duration
considerably and promoted the quality of dried lemon slices in
comparison with convective drying method. However, in terms of
all color parameters including L* a* b* indices, total color difference,
chroma and Hue angle, the least color change compared to the
reference (fresh sample) belonged to the treatments dehydrated
under combined convective-MW method with specific power of
0.97 W g1. Regardless of the drying method, large changes in
chroma between the fresh and the dried lemon was observed,
revealing the lack of stability of yellow color in lemon. In micro-
wave drying methods, the quick drying time might prevent high
structural collapse and consequently, high water gain percentage
was observed. Drying rate curves indicated two periods (a constant
rate period followed by a falling rate period) in convective and
microwave drying methods and only a falling rate period with the
exception of a very short accelerating period (warming-up) at the
start in combined dehydrated treatments. Among 11 commonly
used thin layer mathematical models, Midilli et al. model could
predict most satisfactorily drying kinetics behavior of lemon slices
during microwave, convective and combined microwave-
convective drying. It is recommended that the effect of different
drying conditions on the chemical composition and organoleptic
characteristics of lemon be investigated. Also, it is suggested to
study the change of lemon micro-structure under different drying
methods as the further work.
Acknowledgments
Financial support of this research was received from Isfahan
University of Technology, which is gratefully acknowledged.
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