Drying of cellulosic shelled sunflower

Sunflower seeds were dried using a tray dryer at 3 different temperatures and 3 different flow rates, with pre-treatment (freezing) and without pre-treatment. Considering the maximum value of the device and drying possibilities as 3 different temperatures, temperatures of 40 – 50 – 60 °C were selected and processes were carried out at these temperatures. By adding different flow rates with the help of the device's fan at these temperatures, the drying process of frozen and unfrozen sunflower seeds was completed, moisture losses were calculated, and curves and graphs were drawn with these data. In the selection of the flow rate, the values in the minimum capacity of the tray dryer device were selected. These values are; 0.7 – 1 – 1.5 m/s air flow rates were evaluated in addition to each temperature and drying graphs and humidity curves of sunflower seeds were obtained. Drying-time curves and humidity values were calculated at 3 different temperatures, 3 different flow rates, and regression analyzes of these curves were made with the minitab program. The mathematical models suitable for the mathematical equations obtained according to the program output were evaluated and the kinetic models were examined. The appropriate drying kinetic model of this mathematical model was chosen. Sunflowers were not processed as they were collected, and after they were collected, they were freeze-dried as a pre-treatment, and the effects of different temperatures and flow rates on drying were observed. It was determined that the freezing process has a time-reducing effect on the drying of sunflowers, and the frozen sunflowers dry faster than the sunflowers that are directly dried at the same temperature and flow rate. The appropriate drying kinetics model for this comparison was determined. In the regression analysis obtained by choosing 40 °C temperature and 1 m/s flow rate for suitable results, it was determined that the drying model of sunflower was closest to the Wang and Singh (1978) model and the model was similar at the 98% confidence interval. The process was tried with different kinetic models, but the value with the highest confidence interval was calculated as Wang and Singh (1978) drying kinetic model.