Investigation on the drying and shrinkage characteristics of flue-cured cut tobacco during drum processing with combined heat transfer.

[ Objective ]The drying and shrinkage characteristics of cut tobacco during drum drying with combined heat transfer were investigated to provide references for drying process optimization. [ Method ] A kind of B2F cut tobacco was dried under the different drum temperatures, and the moisture content, temperature and shrinkage of cut tobacco were investigated during drying. [ Result ] Drying kinetics of cut tobacco could be described by the Weibull model, which had a fitting accuracy higher than 0.9700. The drum temperature had a significant effect on the constant drying stage and rapid heating stage of cut tobacco. Higher drum temperature resulted in higher dehydration rate as well as rapider heating rate. The volume shrinkage rate of cut tobacco showed a linear relationship with moisture content. At the drying end, the shrinkage rate of cut tobacco was up to 20%-25%. [ Conclusion ]The drum temperature proves to be an key element influencing the drying effects, hence it should be regarded as the first parameter for drying process of cut tobacco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]