DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF RED BEET (BETA VULGARIS ESCULENTACRUENTA) PUREE IN A MICROWAVE OVEN

The aims of this study are to observe the effects of different microwave power and amount of samples on the drying characteristics of red beet puree, to determine the physical properties of the red beet powders and to calculate the energy efficiency of the drying process. The drying experiments were conducted at five different microwave power and thicknesses of the sample. Seven thin-layer drying models were fitted to the experimental data and Page model which had the highest R2 and lowest χ2 and RMSE for all drying experiments was found to satisfactorily describe the drying behavior of red beet puree. The total drying times increased depending on an increasing amount of sample and decreasing microwave power. The Deff and Ea values ranged between 1.095E-08 to 3.438E-06 m2.s-1 and 14.35 to 77.35W.g-1, respectively. The energy efficiency values of the drying processes are evaluated in terms of MER and SEC