Effect of Temperature and Initial Sample Dimensions on the Convective Drying Behavior of Parallelepiped Cassava Samples

The objective of this study is to examine the behavior of cassava during convective drying, taking into account the external temperature and changing the dimensions of the parallelepiped-shaped samples. The following temperatures were used: 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C and 70 °C. The conclusions indicate that the drying process is faster at higher temperatures. To illustrate, the drying time of a parallelepiped with dimensions 2 cmx1.5 cmx1 cm is 620 minutes at 40 °C, 540 minutes at 50 °C, 520 minutes at 60 °C and 460 minutes at 70 °C. For parallelepipeds measuring 2 cmx1.5 cmx1.5 cm, the drying times are increased: 640min, 600min, 540min and 480min. This mainly concerns the larger ones, especially at higher temperatures. At a temperature of 40 °C, the impact of size is less obvious, however at higher temperatures (50 °C, 60 °C, 70 °C), the importance of sample size is more felt. For example, at a temperature of 70 °C, parallelepipeds with dimensions 2 cmx1.5 cmx1 cm, 2 cmx1.5 cmx1.5 cm and 2 cmx1.5 cmx2 cm dry out in 440 minutes, 460 minutes and 500 minutes respectively. In conclusion, higher temperatures promote drying, up to a drying time difference of 100 min for the same sample shape between 50 °C and 60 °C. Small pieces of cassava tend to dry faster than large ones, especially at higher temperatures.