Determination of drying curves of crabwood in solar dryer

The oil of crabwood is commonly extracted in Amazon by traditional or by pressing method. The extraction efficiency is related to the heating and water content of the seeds. Thus, the determination of a drying model that represent satisfactorily the experimental data is of paramount importance to minimize the changes introduced by the process, consequently obtaining a quality product. The objective of this study was to describe the drying kinetics of seeds of crabwood as well as adjust the mathematical models to the experimental data, using solar dryer. The coefficient of determination, the magnitude of the mean relative error and standard deviation of the estimate was used as the criterion of fit of mathematical models. Drying in a shorter period of time (14 days) of Carapa surinamensis to reach the water equilibrium content (12.28%) may be attributed to the smaller size of the seeds and the greater amount of oil compared to Carapa guianensis. Logarithmic and Midilli et al. were the model that best fitted the experimental data for seeds of both species of Andiroba.