Pasta Drying Modeling for Product Quality and Process Optimization

In the field of pasta drying, where accurate prediction of temperature and moisture content distribution is critical, the use of modeling and simulation plays a key role. This study aims to assess operational conditions that ensure the production of safe, high-quality pasta. An advanced two-domain model was developed and solved to estimate transport phenomena in both the food and air domains. Unlike traditional models that rely on predefined interfacial heat and mass transfer coefficients, the proposed model serves as a flexible tool applicable across a wide range of process and fluid-dynamic conditions in real pasta dryers. The system of nonlinear unsteady-state partial differential equations governing the behavior of a "Rigatone" pasta sample in a dryer was solved using the finite element method to evaluate how air properties affect drying performance. A pilot-scale drying chamber was used for model validation at inlet air temperatures (Ta,in) of 80 °C and relative humidity levels (RHin) of 50% and 60%, with consistent errors below 10%.