Comparative study between ANN and master curve technique for the thin layer drying kinetic study of paddy and modeling of its critical drying temperature by using ANN-PSO approach

Abstract: Thin layer drying kinetic analysis of paddy dried under low temperature conditions (20-40°C), was carried out by using six different types of models. Among which, Midilli model showed best fitted result with highest R2 and lowest RMSE and SSE values. It was observed that the drying rate constant k increased with the increase in drying temperature. For finding the effect of temperature, Midilli model was generalized by using two approaches namely globalization of drying rate constant and master curve technique. Master curve technique gave better fit with a R2 value of 0.998 than the global drying constant model. ANN modeling was also used to find out proper drying kinetics of paddy. Best architecture for the ANN modeling was 2-55-1, which showed best performance than the other modeling techniques with a R2 value of more than 0.999. Modeling of critical drying temperature was also carried out as it is important for taste evaluation of paddy during drying. By using ANN-PSO approach, a relationship between the dependent variable i.e critical drying temperature and independent variables namely drying temperature, time and moisture content (%w.b) was developed. Effective diffusivity of drying linearly increased with increase of temperature where its range varied from 1.19X10-10 /s to 6.01X10-10 /s. The value of activation energy of this type of paddy was 54.23 kJ/mol.Keywords: Thin layer drying, Paddy, Low ambient temperature, Master curve technique, ANN, ANN-PSO.