Investigation into thin layer drying rates and equilibrium moisture content of abattoir paunch waste

The work reported in this article was conducted to determine thin layer drying rates and equilibrium moisture contents of abattoir paunch waste. The equilibrium moisture content of paunch varied from 7.14% to 13.12% for drying in air between 35 and 55 °C, and at 40–80% relative humidity. A predictive equilibrium moisture content equation based on the Chung-Pfost model was developed with the constants A found to be 586.72, B (27.461), and C (28.913) with a standard error of ±0.0035. These values were comparable to the published values for wheat and barley. The thin layer drying constant, k, varied from 0.00023 to 0.0029 min -n with an average time exponent, n, value of 1.42 for air temperatures in the range of 35–55 °C. The variation in drying rates demonstrated a significant sensitivity to humidity.