DRYING TECHNOLOGY, cilt.32, sa.6, ss.695-707, 2014 (SCI-Expanded)
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of meat fiber directions and air conditions on moisture and temperature developments, shrinkage, and effective diffusivity constants compared to homogenous minced meat samples. The lean meat with three fiber directions and minced meat samples were dried at temperatures of 48 and 70 degrees C and air flow rates of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.7m/s. The minced meat samples showed 1.0 +/- 0.19 to 4.4 +/- 0.03 degrees C higher temperature values and 2.3 +/- 0.004 to 6.2 +/- 0.003% lower moisture losses than the lean meat samples in all fiber directions. The lowest temperatures were observed in lean meat with h (1) (normal flow, normal drying) fiber direction. The highest moisture loss and diffusion coefficient were observed in lean meat with h (2) (parallel flow, normal drying) and v (normal flow, parallel drying) fiber directions, which also possessed the shortest drying times (10.4 and 13.4h, respectively). The estimated diffusion coefficient values ranged between 1.11x10(-9) and 5.54x10(-9). The results indicated that lean and minced meat samples differed in their drying behaviors in a tray dryer under the tested conditions with >90% reproducibility (or <= 10% coefficient of variation).