High-Precision Laboratory Dryer for Characterization of the Drying Behavior of Agricultural and Food Products

To reduce the energy consumption during the drying of agricultural and food products, the optimization of the drying process with regard to the drying behavior and the quality of the end products is necessary. Therefore, much effort is spent designing and developing dryers to study the drying behavior of a wide range of products. This often results in a trade-off between measurement accuracy and the sufficient production of dried material required for the product quality analysis. Therefore, a laboratory dryer was developed consisting of three high-precision drying columns, each able to process 600 g of sample mass, and a flatbed dryer that can be loaded with 20 kg of fresh product. Drying curves could be recorded simultaneously by electronic balances in the three precision dryers and the flatbed dryer. The high-precision laboratory dryer HPD TF3+ proved to be suitable for establishing drying curves for a defined temperature, rel. humidity and velocity of the drying air.