Ampawan Tansakul

Estimation of Moisture Ratio of a Mushroom Undergoing Microwave-vacuum Drying Using Artificial Neural Network and Regression Models

The drying rate of a mushroom undergoing microwave-vacuum (MV) drying (MVD) was controlled by moisture dissipation and was dependent on vacuum pressure levels. The main objective of this work was to develop artificial neural network (ANN) model to predict moisture ratio of MV-dried mushrooms. One-hidden-layer feed-forward ANN models were trained and validated with experimental data. The Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was utilized in regulating the ANN model weights and biases. Inputs for ANN models were vacuum pressure and drying time. Output from ANN models was moisture ratio at a given drying time. Reduced chi-square (X 2) and root mean square error (RMSE), and residual sum of squares (RSS) of the results from ANN models were calculated and compared with those of a modified Pages model (an experimental-based mathematical model), which is commonly used in the literature. The X 2, RMSE, and RSS of the ANN model (2.272 x 10 -5, 4.023 x 10 -3, and 3.204 x 10 -3, respectively) were found to be lower than those of the modified Pages model (6.692 x 10 -4, 2.561 x 10 -2, and 12.98 x 10 -2, respectively). These results indicate that the feed-forward ANN model represented the drying characteristics of mushrooms better than the modified Pages model. Therefore, the ANN model could be considered as a better tool for estimation of the moisture content of mushrooms than by the modified Pages model.

Thermophysical Properties of Papaya Puree

The effects of soluble solids content and temperature on thermal properties of papaya puree were studied. Density and specific heat were measured using a pycnometer and differential scanning calorimeter, respectively, while thermal conductivity was measured using a line heat source probe. Thermal diffusivity was then calculated from the experimental results of the specific heat, thermal conductivity, and density. Thermal properties of papaya puree were experimentally determined within a soluble solids content range of 10 to 25 °Brix and temperature between 40 and 80°C. The density, specific heat, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity of papaya puree were found to be in the ranges of 1014.6 to 1098.9 kg/m3, 3.652 to 4.092 kJ/kg °C, 0.452 to 0.685 W/m °C, and 1.127 × 10−7 to 1.650 × 10−7 m2/s, respectively. Moreover, the empirical models for each property as a function of soluble solids content and temperature were obtained.