Abstract:The hot-air drying characteristics of Pleurotus eryngii were studied in terms of different hot-air temperatures, air velocities, material size and accumulation layers of material, meanwhile a hot-air drying mathematical model was established. The test showed that these factors significantly affected the hot-air drying characteristics. Increasing the air temperature and velocity, or lowering size material, single accumulation layer could fasten the drying speed and shorten drying time of Pleurotus eryngii. The speed of a hot-air drying would be faster at air temperature of 80 ℃ with the material size of 1 cm × 1 cm, or single accumulation layer. When air velocity was 1.5 m/s, the drying speed increased as the drying time was shorted. The experimental drying data of Pleurotus eryngii was used to fit five available drying models by applying Matlab 7.0 and using Gauss-Newton algorithm, and the coefficients of models were determined by non-linear regression analysis. It was showed that Two-term model had higher correction coefficient (R2), lower square sum of error value (SSE) and root mean square error value (RMSE), which could exactly describe and predict the moisture dynamics of Pleurotus eryngii during hot-air drying process.
