Influence of air velocity, air temperature and batch size on drying time for drying of Khoa using batch type fluidized bed dryer

Abstract

Khoa is heat desiccated product. Traditionally Khoa is prepared by continuous heating and stirring of milk till semi-solid consistency is obtained. In India Khoa is used as an ingredients for sweets like peda, burfi, gulabjamun etc. Drying is an important as well as most energy intensive unit operation in process industry. Fluidized bed drying is most acceptable process in-terms of final quality of dried product as well as shorter drying time. Time required to complete the drying process is very important aspect as cost of production mainly depends on it. Compare to other drying process, fluidized bed drying process yield brighter color, lower moisture content with low temperature in less time. The three factors air velocity(m/s), air temperature (°C) and batch size (gram) were considered for calculating the drying time required to dry Khoa using batch fluidized bed dryer. This paper focuses on kind of influence created by all three factors.