Research on kinetics of industrial drying of long pasta

Research of drying kinetics on tree types of long pasta (spaghetti, "lace" pasta and long "fida") was done. It was carried out in the pasta factory IPK Croatia d.o.o. Osijek. During complete technological procedures of pasta production, starting from doughing to a final product, samples were taken from various places of the production line and moisture content was determined. This enabled estimation of moisture content changes of pasta during a drying process and calculation of drying rate. Temperature of humid air inside the dryers was measured by dry-bulb and wet-bulb thermometer. Relative air humidity was read in thermodynamic tables. The measured properties of drying air were similar for all three types of long pasta. All tree types of long pasta had an equal initial moisture content that reduced similarly with a drying time and resulted in similar drying curves. The drying curves reached the maximum value in the first thirty minutes of drying. The research proved that the pasta shape influences the time needed for drying process. So, spaghetti drying lasted about 22 hours, 15 hours were needed for "laces" pasta and 20 for long "fida".