Noni seeds have been used for years as an important medicinal source, with wide use in the pharmaceutical and food industry. Drying is a fundamental process in the post-harvest stages, where it enables the safe storage of the product. Therefore, the present study aimed to fit different mathematical models to experimental data of drying kinetics of noni seeds, determine the effective diffusion coefficient and obtain the activation energy for the process during drying under different conditions of air temperature. The experiment used noni seeds with initial moisture content of 0.46 (decimal, d.b.) and dehydrated up to equilibrium moisture content. Drying was conducted under different controlled conditions of temperature, 40; 50; 60; 70 and 80 ºC and relative humidity, 24.4; 16.0; 9.9; 5.7 and 3.3%, respectively. Eleven mathematical models were fitted to the experimental data. The parameters to evaluate the fitting of the mathematical models were mean relative error (P), mean estimated error (SE), coefficient of determination (R2), Chi-square test (c2), Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Schwarz’s Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). Considering the fitting criteria, the model Two Terms was selected to describe the drying kinetics of noni seeds. Effective diffusion coefficient ranged from 8.70 to 23.71 × 10-10 m2 s-1 and its relationship with drying temperature can be described by the Arrhenius equation. The activation energy for noni seeds drying was 24.20 kJ mol-1 for the studied temperature range.

In the present study, the objective was to fit different models to the experimental data of drying of tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) seeds and to select the best model, to determine the effective diffusion coefficient, activation energy and thermodynamic properties for the process during drying at different temperatures. The experiment was carried out at the Laboratory of Post-Harvest of Vegetable Products of the Instituto Federal Goiano (Federal Institute Goiano) - Campus of Rio Verde, GO, Brazil. Seeds with initial moisture content of 18 ± 0.25% dry basis were oven dried with forced air ventilation, at controlled temperatures of 45, 60, 75 and 90 °C in four repetitions. Nonlinear regression models used to describe the phenomenon were fitted to the experimental data. To represent the drying of tamarind seeds, the Midilli model was selected for the range from 45 to 60 ºC and the Two terms model was selected for the range from 75 to 90 ºC. The effective diffusion coefficient increases with the increase of drying air temperature, being described by the Arrhenius equation, with activation energy of 35.16 kJ mol-1. Enthalpy and entropy decreases, while Gibbs free energy increases with increasing drying temperature.

The ‘Gueroba’ fruit can be used to produce flours with potential for the development of new products from the ‘Cerrado’ socio-biodiversity. The objective was to estimate the drying kinetics and determine the effective diffusion coefficient and activation energy for the pulp of ‘gueroba’ fruits subjected to different drying temperatures. ‘Gueroba’ fruits were manually pulped, removing the mesocarp with the epicarp, and this material was identified as the pulp. The material was subjected to oven drying at temperatures of 40, 50, 60 and 70 °C. Nonlinear regression models were fitted to the experimental data. The most adequate model was selected through the coefficient of determination, mean relative and estimated errors, Chi-square test, AIC and BIC. As the drying temperature increases, the processing time to achieve the same moisture content decreases, due to the increase in water diffusivity inside the product. The Midilli model showed the best fit to the experimental data obtained. The effective diffusion coefficients of the pulp of ‘gueroba’ fruits showed magnitudes between 3.11 x 10-9 to 5.84 x 10-9 m2 s-1 for temperatures from 40 to 70 °C. The activation energy of the process was 18.34 kJ mol-1.

The drying is one of the stages of processing Brazil nuts, being an important stage due to the high moisture content and water activity of the product. This study aimed to adjust mathematical models to the drying kinetics data of Brazil nuts, calculating the effective diffusion coefficient and obtaining activation energy for the drying process. Brazil nuts were collected in amazon region, and then the product was homogenized for processing. The nuts were subjected to drying in a forced ventilation oven at temperatures of 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C in 4 replicates, each one consisting of approximately 200 g of samples in aluminum containers. Mathematical models were adjusted to the experimental data of the moisture content ratio. Thompson, Midilli, Logarithmic and Two Terms models are suitable for estimating the drying of Brazil nuts. The Two Terms model was selected to represent the drying phenomenon for presenting better results in the analyzed parameters. The effective diffusion coefficient increased with increasing temperature and the activation energy for the liquid diffusion in the drying was 35.69 kJ mol -1 .

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of drying at different temperatures on the mechanical properties of grains of grain sorghum subjected to compression at the natural rest position. Grains dried at temperatures of 60, 80 and 100 °C with different moisture contents (0.515; 0.408; 0.315; 0.234; 0.162 and 0.099 (d.b.)) were subjected to uniaxial compression between two parallel plates, applied at their natural rest position, at a rate of 0.001 m s-1. The force required to rupture in grains of grain sorghum increased as their moisture contents decreased, with values of 47.17 to 78.44 N, 61.81 to 69.66 N and 52.07 to 70.89 N for the temperatures of 60, 80 and 100 °C, respectively. The compression force required to deform grain sorghum decreased with the increment in moisture content, and the proportional deformation modulus increases with moisture content reduction. Within the studied range of moisture content, the values were 87 × 10-7 to 354.99 × 10-7 Pa, 132.63 × 10-7 to 465.98 × 10-7 Pa and 80.18 × 10-7 to 429.85 × 10-7 Pa for the temperatures of 60, 80 and 100 °C, respectively.