Mathematical Modelling of Fermented Chilli Pepper (<i>Capsicum </i><i>chinense</i>) Drying in a Hot Air Oven

Chilli pepper (Capsicum chinense) is considered amongst the highly consumed spices in the Republic of Congo, wherein it is available at any time of the season. The product consumption in its raw state gives rise to considerable post-harvest losses, which is a problem that needs to be resolved. To resolve the problem to better the chilli pepper preservation, three (03) samples of chilli peppers were used to be fermented and dried in a FALC hot-air oven at temperatures of 45˚C, 60˚C and 70˚C. Origin pro 18 software was used for mathematical modeling of thin-layer drying. Six (06) mathematical drying models were compared using the linear regression method, the constants, coefficients of the different models and statistical parameters—Coefficient of Determination (R2)—Chi-Square (X2)—Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)—were determined. Drying time decreased from 480 min to 150 min with increasing temperature from 45˚C to 70˚C. From these results, Wang and Singh’s model satisfactorily describes the drying curve of fermented chilli pepper under the experimental conditions studied.