Characterization of hot air drying and microwave vacuum drying of fingerroot (Boesenbergia pandurata)

SummaryFingerroot (Boesenbergia pandurata) was subjected to hot air drying and microwave vacuum drying. Effective moisture diffusion coefficient during the hot air drying at 60 and 70 °C were 0.2073 × 10−10 and 0.4106 × 10−10 m2 s−1 respectively. By using the microwave vacuum drying (13.3 kPa) at the power of 2880 and 3360 W, the effective moisture diffusion coefficient were increased to 5.7910 × 10−10 and 6.8767 × 10−10 m2 s−1 respectively. Based on Lewis model, drying rate constants were 0.0002, 0.0004, 0.0061 and 0.0072 s−1 for the hot air drying at 60 and 70 °C and the microwave vacuum drying at 2880 and 3360 W respectively. Compared with the hot air drying, the microwave vacuum drying decreased drying time by 90%. Rehydration ability of the microwave vacuum dried samples was also significantly improved (P ≤ 0.05), because of porous structure. In addition, the rehydrating water of the microwave vacuum dried samples contained higher b*‐value (yellowness) than that of the hot‐air‐dried samples (P ≤ 0.05).