Heat and Mass Transfer in Warm-air Drying of Seafood

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop effective drying method for seafood. We conducted the warm-air drying experiments using the scallop and investigated the heat and mass transfer mechanism. We have observed morphological changes of muscular fibers of scallop during the drying process. It is found that the surface shrinks due to the rapid drying which results in an additional resistance for water transport and reduces the evaporation rate. This decrease of evaporation rate raises the scallop temperature and increase the water content inside the muscular cell due to osmotic pressure change. This is an additional resistance for mass transfer. A heat and mass transfer model is made by considering these two resistances and we have good agreement with the experiments.