Analysis of Tomato Drying by Using a Solar Tower Dryer in Natural Convection

This work presents an experimental study of the drying process of tomato in thin layer thanks to an indirect solar dryer operating in natural convection called "solar tower dryer". This experiment was performed under varying conditions of solar radiation. The objective of this study is to present the drying kinetics of the tomato and determine its physicochemical parameters such as diffusion coefficient and activation energy. The results show that the diffusion coefficient of the tomato is 6.2687 ×10-9 m²s-1 with an activation energy estimated at 20.091 kJ.mol-1.