Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

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Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

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Heat and mass transfer parameters in the drying of cocoyam slice MARK
a,⁎ a a,b a
Macmanus C. Ndukwu , Cyprian Dirioha , Fidelis I. Abam , Victor E. Ihediwa
a
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria
b
Energy, Exergy and Environment Research Group (EEERG) Mechanical Engineering Department, Michael Okpara University of
Agriculture, Umudike, P.M.B. 7267, Umuahia, Nigeria

A R T I C L E I N F O ABSTRACT

Keywords: The paper investigates some heat and mass transfer parameters (HMTPs) of three varieties of
Cocoyam drying cocoyam slice and their vitamin B retention level in convective drying. The varieties include
Vitamin B Colocasia esculenta (COE) and xanthosoma sagittiffolium (white flesh – NX01, red flesh –
Energy consumption NX02). The objective is to generate HMTPs for process model development, applied in dryer
Heat transfer coefficient
design. The oven and sun drying procedures were employed where temperatures were
Volume shrinkage
maintained between 50 and 70 °C (oven drying) and sun drying, the readings were observed
at every one hour. The results obtained show that the mass transfer coefficient for the three
varieties lies between 1.01044×10−6 and 3.44876×10−6 m/s while the heat transfer coefficient
ranged from 1.17973 to 3.58284 W/m2 K. The specific energy consumption for drying was
estimated at 14.15, 25.16 and 35.07 kWh/kg for NX02, NX01, and COE respectively, at drying
temperature (DT) of 60 °C. However, at DT range between 50 and 70 °C the moisture extraction
rate was varied from 0.047 to 0.185 kg/kWh, for NX02, 0.070–0.258 kg/kWh for NX01 and
0.099–1.42 kg/kWh for COE, with vitamin B retention level ranging from 70.13% to 100% at all
DTs for the varieties.

1. Introduction

The Colocasia esculenta (taro) and xanthosoma sagittifolium (tannia) are two main varieties of cocoyam grown in different parts
of the world. Cocoyam is grown mainly because of its edible corm, which is rich in vitamin A, B, and C with minerals such as
magnesium, calcium, and phosphate [1]. However, to reduce post-harvest losses, producers, dry and process cocoyam into flour for
prolong storage and export [2]. Drying is an energy intensive process involving simultaneous heat and mass transfer [3].
Additionally, during this process, there is a movement of heat by convection from the drying medium to the material which
permeates the material by conduction. The moisture from the material, in turn, diffuses to the material surface and then evaporates.
Consequently, to optimize the drying process, heat and mass parameters of the product must be well understood. This is because the
values of the surface heat and mass transfer coefficients in a drying medium are significant in controlling the surface temperature of
dried crops. Knowledge of these coefficients can be convenient in providing the basis for the enhanced design of dryers with
optimum energy saving.
Moreover, further studies have shown that drying is an integral part of food making and thus all the thermochemical processes
involve must likewise be considered as the basic requirements of food processing [4]. The latter comprises moisture behavior, the
oxidation of vitamins and minerals, and other enzymatic reactions that alter the original quality and structural matrix [5]. In most
cases, to achieve the exact control of the drying processes, models are developed to determine process variables such as drying

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ndukwumcu@gmail.com (M.C. Ndukwu).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2016.12.003
Received 9 September 2016; Received in revised form 25 November 2016; Accepted 10 December 2016
Available online 11 December 2016
2214-157X/ © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

temperature, moisture content, drying time, and product quality index [4].
However, the moisture removal processes during drying, and their relationship with the process variables are expressed
regarding the drying characteristics. Consequently, the determination of the drying characteristics is necessary for the development
of consistent process models used in the design of dryers for optimum performance [6]. Several studies exist in the literature on
drying characteristics (DC) of different crops. For example, the works of [7] presented an all-inclusive review on drying kinetics of
numerous crops. Further works in [8] presented the DC of a pretreated unknown variety of cocoyam at a temperature range between
50 and 70 °C using oven and microwave drying techniques. Their inferences indicate the moisture diffusivity (Dm) of the pretreated
cocoyam ranged between 5.27×10−8≤Dm ≤2.07×10−6 m2/s while the activation energy (AE) for oven and microwave drying ranged
between 37.41≤ AE≤61.79 kJ/mol and 38.59≤AE ≤41.91 W/g, respectively.
Nonetheless, studies on heat transfer coefficient of Colocasia esculenta (taro) a variety of cocoyam is presented in [9] for only
deep frying with vitamin C retention capacity. The results of [9] show that vitamin C and β- carotene degraded significantly under
heat. Apart from the preceding works of [8,9] on cocoyam drying, studies in the open literature are inadequate in this respect.
Similarly, studies on the thermophysical properties of cocoyam and vitamin B retention level in convective drying are not published
elsewhere. The research objective is therefore circumscribed to the following, (i) the determination of the heat and mass transfer
coefficient and the drying characteristics of three varieties of cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta, white flesh and xanthosoma
sagittiffolium, red flesh) in convective drying procedure and (ii) the determination of the vitamin B retention levels for these
three varieties of cocoyam. Since, data in (i) and (ii) have not been adequately provided in the literature regarding the cocoyam
varieties, the study contribution in this field is consequently considered worthwhile.

2. Methods

2.1. Determination of heat and mass transfer parameters

In the determination of the heat and mass transfer of food product based on diffusion theory, the following was assumed: (i) the
initial moisture content and the drying temperature of the food product is uniform (ii) heat and mass transfer coefficients are
constant, homogeneous and isentropic (iii) the effects of interaction between heat and moisture transfer is insignificant [3]. Based on
the above assumption several empirical solutions were deduced for several geometric shape coordinates by solving various transient
diffusion equations for heat conduction and moisture diffusions, but in most cases, this is simplified by adopting a more general
approach [10] as presented in subsequent sections. The experimental setup for the cocoyam slice drying is depicted in Fig. 1.

2.1.1. Convective heat and mass transfer coefficient

The most common method of calculating the heat transfer coefficient of most food materials is to combine the heat and the mass
transfer coefficients with the Lewis number (Le) as expressed in [11].
hc
=Le
hm ραa (1)
where:
hc , hm , αa and Le are the heat transfer coefficient, mass transfer coefficient, specific heat capacity and Lewis number respectively. The
Lewis number (Le ) is obtained in [3].
Le = Φ / Dm (2)
where Φ is the thermal diffusivity and Dm is moisture diffusivity. The surface mass transfer coefficient is expressed in [12] as,
Dm
h m= (2. 0 + 0. 522R 0.5
e Sc
0.33)
d (3)
Where Re and Sc are Reynold and Schemidt number defined in Eqs. (4) and (5)
vd ρ
Re=
μ (4)
μ
Sc =
ρDm (5)
An infinite series of solution for Fick's second law of diffusion for un- steady state diffusion which can describe the drying rate of
cocoyam corm slice was used to deduce the moisture diffusivity (Dm) and expressed in [13]
∂m ∂ 2m
=Dm 2
∂t ∂r (6)
Where r is the radius of the equivalent sphere (m) or thickness of a slab (l) and t is the time (s). Assuming uniform initial moisture
content (IMC) and a constant Dm all through the sample, the analytical solution of Eq. (6) was given as follows [6].

xi − x e 6 ⎡ ⎛ π2 ⎞ ⎤
MR = = exp ⎢ −Dm t ⎜ 2 ⎟ ⎥
x0 − xe π2 ⎣ ⎝ r ⎠⎦ (7)

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M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

Fig. 1. Schematics of the drying experimental setup (a) Oven drying and (b) Sun drying.

The Dm was deduced by the plot of natural logarithm of the moisture rate (MR) against t (s) with slope K (s−1) [13,14] is defined
by,
π2
K = Dm
l2 (8)

2.1.2. Diffusivity coefficient and activation energy

The diffusion coefficient (Do), was obtained by considering that the Dm changes with drying temperature (DT) as an Arrhenius
function expressed in [13].
⎛ AE ⎞
Dm=Do exp ⎜ − ⎟
⎝ R(T + 273. 15) ⎠ (9)
AE is the activation energy for moisture diffusion, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature of drying. The gradient and the
intercept of the Dm plot against DT were used to assume the values AE and Do in Eq. (9).

2.2. Determination of specific energy consumption for drying

The drying process is defined as the removal of liquid from a solid by the thermal application [15]. The energy consumption for
drying in a batch process using the oven and the specific energy consumption are expressed in Eqs. (10) and (11) [12,16].

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M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

Ec =Avαa ρ∆TDt (10)

Ec
Es =
mw (11)
2
Where A is the drying tray area (m ), v is air velocity (m/s), Dt is the total drying time (s), αa is the specific heat of air (kJ/kg °C) at
the DT, ρ is the density of air (kg/m3), mw is the mass of water removed from the sample (kg), Ec is the energy consumption (ECD)
kWh, and Es is the specific energy consumption SECD (kWh/kg).

2.3. Drying rate and specific moisture extraction rate for drying process

The drying rate was calculated as the finite difference of mass of water removed from the wet cocoyam per unit time as expressed
in [13].
xt − xt−1
DR = ṁ w=
dt (12)

Where xt and xt-1 are the water contents of the dried sample at time t
The specific moisture extraction rate is calculated as the ratio of the drying rate to the specific energy consumption for drying
[17].
ṁ w
M extr=
Es (13)

2.4. Determination of volume shrinkage ratio

The volume shrinkage (Vs) of dried cocoyam was expressed as the ratio of initial volume (Vi) to the volume (V) at time t and
presented as in [18].
V
V=
s
Vi (14)

V=V
i w +Vd (15)

Where Vw and Vd are the volume of water and dried solid respectively, with Vw defined in Eq. (16).
mw
Vw=
ρw (16)

Where mw is the mass of water (g) and ρw is the density of water (g/cm ). The mass of water is given by [19].
3

mi (xt − xf )
mw=
100−xf (17)

Where mi the initial mass (g) of cocoyam, mt is the mass of the cocoyam at any timext and xf represent the final moisture content in
wet basis [18]. The expression for the volume of dried food product is obtained as,
V =Vi (A+βxi ) (18)

Where A, β are shrinkage coefficients and are defined in Eqs. (19) to (21)
1
A=
1 + px 0 (19)
p
β=
1 + px o (20)
ρd
p=
ρw (21)

2.5. Thin layer modeling

Modeling was done by non-linear curve fitting the experimental data into the three drying equations in Table 1 [7,20] using
ORIGIN Pro 9.1 spreadsheet data analysis and graphic software. Reduced Chi-square (χ2), root mean square error (RMSE) and
coefficient of determination (R2) was calculated as in [13] and used to assess the goodness of fitting.

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M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

Table 1
Model equations for drying curves.

Model name Model Reference

Newton/Lewis MR=e−kt [7]

Henderson and Pabis's MR=ae−kt [20]
Logarithmic model MR=ae−kt +c [7]

2.6. Experiments

2.6.1. Sample preparation

Three varieties of Cocoyam corm namely: Colocasia esculenta (COE), xanthosoma sagittiffolium (white flesh – NX01, red flesh –
NX02) was obtained from the open market around Umudike Nigeria. Analysis of the initial moisture content of various samples
showed variation for each species. For the NX01, the initial moisture content was 0.6689 ± 0.12 kg of water/kg of wet solid while
NX02 and COE were 0.7564 ± 0.15 and0.6735 ± 0.10 kg of water/kg of wet solid respectively. They were washed, peeled, and diced
into a cylindrical shape using a cylindrical stainless pipe of 20 mm diameter and 15 mm depth. The diced chips were measured and
carefully sliced into 5 mm thickness forming a cylinder of area 9.4245×10−4 m2 and volume 1.571×10−6 m3.

2.6.2. Drying procedure

Drying was done by spreading the slices in a single layer on a circular tray of area 0.04155 m2 placed inside a natural air-vent
(maximum=40 mm) oven (UMB 500 Sehutzart, DIN EN 60529-IP 20, Memmert, Germany) as shown in Fig. 1(a). The drying was
maintained at temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 °C. The corresponding measured humidity at these temperatures was 7.8%, 5.1% and
3.6% in that order. The natural air speed was measured as 0.02 m/s. Three k-type thermocouples linked to omega data logger
(HH1147; Omega, Stanford, USA) were inserted into the center of 3 of the cocoyam each. The initial temperature of the cocoyam was
recorded between 22 and 22.5 °C. The mesh was removed and weighed every 0. 5 h on a digital weighing balance (scout Pro SPU
405, made in China). Drying continued until there were no noticeable changes in the mass of the slice. Each drying was completed in
triplicate and the mean value used in the analysis. Furthermore, for the sun drying method, the sliced cocoyam was spread in a thin
layer inside a flat tray hung on a weight sensor (Fig. 1b). The initial weight of the tray without the sliced cocoyam was noted and
subtracted for subsequent observations. The measurement was observed at every one hour. A micro-station consisting of
temperature and humidity sensor connected to a data logger was used to record the temperature and humidity of the ambient.

2.7. Determination of Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pathogenic acid and Pyridoxine retention level (TRNPP) at DT

The thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin contents were determined by a spectrophotometric method using UV – spectrophotometer
(UV–Vis Uvikon XS Bio-Tek Instruments, France) by measuring their various assay at wavelengths (ʎ) of 360, 510 and 470
respectively and reported in mg/100 g [21]. For the analysis of Pathogenic acid and Pyridoxine, high-performance Liquid
Chromatography was used. The two vitamins were analyzed in the extract on a C-18 (150 mm×46 mm) column. Identification and
quantification of the two vitamins were made by measuring their absorbance at ʎ=204 nm and 324 nm for pathogenic acid and
pyridoxine respectively using UV spectrophotometer.

3. Results and discussion

The thermal dehydration of the cocoyam slice was investigated at varying drying temperatures and constant air velocity. Three
varieties of cocoyam were considered followed by the analysis of the heat and mass transfer parameters and vitamin B retention
levels. Additionally, the thin layer modeling was performed using diffusion based equations.

3.1. Convective heat and mass transfer coefficients

Table 2 presents the heat and mass transfer coefficients at different DT for the three varieties of cocoyam (NX01, NX02, and

Table 2
Heat and mass transfer parameters for the three varieties of cocoyam.

Variety of Mass transfer coefficient× 10−6 (m/s) Heat transfer coefficient (W/m. K) Moisture diffusivity× 10−10 (m/s2) Activation Arrhenius
cocoyam Energy (kJ) constant
Sun T50 T60 T70 Sun T50 T60 T70 Sun T50 T60 T70
drying drying drying

NX01 1.4495 1.5423 2.4275 2.6121 1.6924 1.6980 2.5975 2.7136 4.4450 3.3794 6.6817 7.5391 37.04 3.61* 10−4
NXO2 1.0104 1.6470 1.9281 2.0478 1.1797 1.8132 2.0631 2.1275 1.7262 3.7232 4.7585 5.2683 16.16 1.56* 10−7
COE 1.7339 1.8742 2.9410 3.4488 2.0244 2.0634 3.1470 3.5828 3.9152 4.5056 8.8622 1.1343 42.99 4.29* 10−3

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M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

S p e c ific E n e rg y C o n s u m p tio n (k W h /k g )
S p e c ific E n e rg y c o n s u m p tio n (k W h /k g )
160 180
NX01 NX02 COE NX01 NX02 COE
140 160

120
(a) 140

120
(b)
100
100
80
80
60
60
40
40
20
20
0 0
-20 -20
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (h) Time (h)
S pecific E nergy consum ption (kW h/kg)

specific moisture extraction rate (kg/kWh)

700 0.7
NX01 NX02 COE
600 0.6 NX01 NX02 COE

500
(c) 0.5
(d)
400 0.4

300 0.3

0.2
200

0.1
100

0.0
0

-0.1
-100
0 2 4 6 8 10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (h)
S p e c ific m o is tu re e x tra c tio n ra te (k g /k W h )

Time (h)
S p e c ific m o is tu re e x tra c tio n ra te (k g /k W h )

NX01 NX02 COE

1.0
NX01 NX02 COE 2

0.8 (e) (f)

0.6
1
0.4

0.2

0
0.0

1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5

Time (h) Time (h)

Fig. 2. The SECD for the three varieties of cocoyam at (a) 50 °C (b) 60 °C (c) 70 °C and SMR at (c) 50 °C (b) 60 °C and (d) 70 °C.

COE). The mass transfer coefficient for the three varieties ranged between 1.01044×10−6 and 3.44876×10−6 m/s while the heat
transfer coefficient exists between 1.17973 and 3.58284 W/m2. K for all the drying temperatures (DTs) of 50, 60 and 70 °C. The
three varieties showed increasing trend in mass and heat transfer. However, the rate of heat and moisture transfer was high in COE
at all DTs while NX02 was the lowest. It can be assumed from Table 2 that at DT of 60 °C, NX01 and NX02 may demonstrate

67
M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

1.0 NX01 NX02 COE 1.0 NX01 NX02 COE

0.8
(a) 0.8
(b)

0.6 0.6
Vs

Vs
0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0

-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.510

Time (h) Time (h)

1.0 1.0 NX01 NX02 COE

NX01 NX02 COE
(d)
0.8
(c) 0.8

0.6
0.6
Vs

Vs

0.4
0.4

0.2
0.2

0.0
0.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Time (h) Time (h)

Fig. 3. Volume shrinkage ratio (VSR) for different varieties (a) sun drying and oven drying at (b) 50 °C, (c) 60 °C, (d) 70 °C.

common characteristics in terms of mass and heat transfer coefficients while the same can be observed for COE at a lower
temperature. The variations in the mass and heat transfer of food material are dependent on the composition matrix and the initial
moisture content.

3.2. Moisture diffusivity and activation energy

The values of moisture diffusivity (Dm), activation energy (AE), and the Arrhenius constant are shown in Table 2 for the three
varieties. The Dm and the AE vary from 1.76×10−10 to 1.13×10−9 m2/s and 16.16–42.99 kJ respectively. The results indicate that the
Dm increases with increasing DT for all the varieties with COE and NX02 having the lowest values of Dm. The Arrhenius constant
which is a temperature dependent coefficient deduced by the plot of Dm against the inverse of DT lies between 1.56×10−7 and
4.29×10 −3 m2/s. These values obtained value falls within the range available in the literature for similar crops [22].

3.3. Specific energy consumption for drying (SECD) and moisture extraction rate (SMR)

The result of the SECD of the three varieties at different drying temperatures with the oven is presented in Fig. 2(a–f). The SECD
for sun drying were not calculated. The drying time, initial moisture content and the drying temperature showed increasing positive
effect on the SECD for all cocoyam varieties. The maximum SECD values were found to range between 112.4≤SECD≤350.2 kWh/kg,
86.34≤SECD≤151.2 kWh/kg and 64.16≤SECD≤655.03 kWh/kg for NX01, NX02 and COE respectively. The highest SECD value was
obtained at a DT of 70 °C. However, at DT of 60 °C and drying time of three hours, the SECD were approximated at 14.15, 25.16 and
35.07 kWh/kg for NX02, NX01, and COE respectively. Their variations in the SECD ranged between 43.76% and 59.65% for all the

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M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

0.18
D ry in g ra te (g w a te r/g w e t s o lid h ) 0.06
NX02 NX01 COE 0.16 NX02 NX01 COE
0.05 0.14
(a)

D rying rates (kg/kg.h )

0.12
(b)
0.04
0.10
0.03 0.08

0.06
0.02
0.04

0.01 0.02

0.00
0.00
-0.02
0 2 4 6 8 10
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (h)
Time (h)
1.0

1.2 NX02 NX01 COE

NX02 NX01 COE
0.8
1.0
(c) D rying R ates (kg/kg.h) (d)
D rying R ates (kg /kg .h)

0.8 0.6

0.6
0.4

0.4
0.2
0.2

0.0
0.0

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

Time (h) Time (h)

Fig. 4. Drying rates of the three varieties of cocoyam (a) Sun drying and oven drying at (b) 50 °C, (c) 60 °C and (d) 70 °C.

varieties. The SMR decreased exponentially with time. The average values of SMR lie between 0.047≤SMR≤0.185 kg/kWh for NX01,
0.070≤ SMR≤0.258 kg/kWh for NX02 and 0.099≤SMR≤1.42 kg/kWh for COE at DTs of 50, 60 and 70 respectively. The SMR was
lowest at all drying temperatures for NX02.

3.4. Shrinkage of cocoyam

The shrinkage of the cocoyam is empirically determined in terms of volume change as. The volume shrinkage ratio is presented in
Fig. 3(a–d) for both sun and oven drying. Shrinkage of biological materials under convective drying is dependent on moisture
content [23]. The maximum volume shrinkage ratio for the three species at different DTs range from 3.2% to 13.9%, 18.2–30.6% and
2.78–14.35% for NX01, NX02, and COE respectively. From the findings, it is concluded that NX02 has the lowest degree of
structural change than others. The cause for this structural change is due to the high initial moisture content and porosity.

3.5. Drying characteristics and mathematical modeling

Fig. 4(a–d) presents the drying rate (DR) of cocoyam varieties for sun and oven drying conditions. The drying rate is temperature
dependent and fits into the falling rate drying period with time as shown in Fig. 4(a–d). The highest drying rate occurred at the first
one hour of drying in all the varieties and for the considered drying temperatures. However, at 50 °C NX02 had the highest DR of
(0.1732 g of water/g of dried solid h), at of 60 °C NX01 recorded the highest DR of (1.14 g of water/g of dried solid h) while at of
70 °C NX01 had the highest DR. Furthermore, for the sun drying method, NX02 has the highest DR of (0.058 g of water/g of dried
solid h) which is comparatively low.
Fig. 5(a-d) shows the experimental and predicted moisture ratio (MR) curve with drying time for the cocoyam varieties. The
overall drying time ranged between 4.5 and 9.5 h for drying temperature range of 50 and 70 °C while it took 16–21 h excluding the

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M.C. Ndukwu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 9 (2017) 62–71

1.2
1.0 NX01exp NX02exp COEexp NX01prd NX02prd COEprd NX01exp NX02exp COEexp NX01prd NX02prd COEprd

0.8
(a) 1.0
(b)
0.8

0.6
0.6

MR
MR

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0
0.0
-0.2
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (h) Time (h)

1.2
1.0 NX01exp NX02exp COEexp NX01prd NX02prd COEprd
NX01exp NX02exp COEexp NX01prd NX02prd COEprd
1.0
(c) 0.8 (d)
0.8

0.6
0.6
MR
MR

0.4
0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (h) Time (h)
Fig. 5. The predicted and experimental MR for the three varieties of cocoyam for (a) SDM and oven method at (b) 50 °C (b) 60 °C (c) 70 °C.

night time (5 p.m. – 6 a.m.), morning time (6 −10 a.m.) and rainy hours for sun drying method (SDM). However, it took five
consecutive drying days to achieve the desired moisture content for the SDM due to vagaries of weather condition. The result of the
curve fitting of the experimental moisture ratios with the three models is shown in Table 3. The Logarithmic model showed higher R2
with lower RMSE and χ2, thus a better result.

3.6. Vitamin B retention level

Table 4 presents the retention level of the five vitamin B group investigated. The result shows retention level of all the vitamin
ranged from 70.13 −100%. Thiamine generally has the lowest retention level of 70.13–82.35% while Riboflavin showed more
stability with a retention level of 92.25–100%. The percentage retention level of Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pathogenic acid and
Pyridoxine are shown in Table 2. Also, the increase in drying temperature did not have a significant effect on the vitamins retention
level.

4. Conclusion

Thermal investigation of the convective drying of three varieties of cocoyam under different temperature conditions was carried
out. The following results were obtained as summarized below:

• The calculated mass and heat transfer coefficients for the three cocoyam varieties was found to vary from 1.01044×10−6 to

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3.44876×10−6 m/s and 1.17973–3.58284 W/m2. K respectively. Maximum mass and heat transfer coefficients occurred with COE
at all drying temperatures while N0×2 exhibited the lowest mass and heat transfer coefficients. The Dm was high in COE and
lowest in NX02 and ranged from 1.76×10−10 to 1.13×10−9 m2/s whereas the activation energy ranged from 16.16 to 42.99 kJ for
all DTs.
• The specific energy consumption for drying (SECD) was high in COE and NX02 while NX01 had maintained comparatively lower
SECD. However at 60 °C and drying time of three hours the SECD were approximated at 14.15, 25.16 and 35.07 kWh/kg for
NX02, NX01 and COE respectively. The average SMR lies between 0.047≤ SMR ≤0.185 kg/kWh for NX01, 0.070≤ SMR
≤0.258 kg/kWh for NX02 and 0.099≤ SMR ≤1.42 kg/kWh for COE DT range between 50 and 70 °C.
• The maximum volume shrinkage ratio for the three species at different DTs ranged from 3.2% to 13.9% for NX01, 18.2–30.6% for
NX02 and 2.78 – 14.35% for COE. Similarly, the retention level of 70.13 −100% for all the five vitamins were obtained. Thiamine
generally has the lowest retention level of 70.13–82.35% while Riboflavin showed more stability with a retention level of 92.25–
100%.

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