%0 Journal Article
%T Modelling of Indirect Solar Drying with and without a Thermal Storage Unit for Tomatoes
%A Salifou Tera
%A Souleymane Sinon
%A Mamadi Diakite
%A Kalil Pierre Mathos
%A Oumar Sanogo
%J Engineering
%P 259-275
%@ 1947-394X
%D 2025
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/eng.2025.174016
%X The present work presents indirect solar drying with or without a tomato drying unit and the mathematical modelling of the indirect solar drying system with or without a storage unit. Heat and mass transfer equations were used to predict the thermal behaviour of solar drying with or without a tomato unit. During the experiment, the tomatoes were dried to an average final moisture content of 0.12 kg<sub>water</sub>/kg<sub>ms</sub> with an average initial water content of 17.6 kg<sub>water</sub>/kg<sub>ms</sub>. The experimental data were fitted to eight (08) different mathematical thin film drying models. These models were compared using the coefficient of determination <math display='inline' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mrow>
  <msup>
   <mi>R</mi>
   <mn>2</mn>
  </msup>
  </mrow>
</math>

, Ki-square <math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mrow>
  <msup>
   <mi>&#x03C7;</mi>
   <mn>2</mn>
  </msup>
  </mrow>
</math>

 and the square root of the root mean square error RMSE. The results show that Page&#8217;s model best describes the drying curve characteristic of tomatoes. This Page&#8217;s model gives a higher value of determination <math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mrow>
  <msup>
   <mi>R</mi>
   <mn>2</mn>
  </msup>
  <mo>=</mo><mn>0.9942</mn></mrow>
</math>

 and lower values of Ki-square <math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>
 <mrow>
  <msup>
   <mi>&#x03C7;</mi>
   <mn>2</mn>
  </msup>
  <mo>=</mo><mn>0.02797</mn></mrow>
</math>

 and RMSE = 0.00704, compared with the seven (07) other mathematical methods used to describe the thermal behavior of tomato solar drying.
%K Tomato
%K Solar Drying
%K Thermal Storage
%K Mathematical Model
%K Moisture Content
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=141851