Research on Dynamics and Drying Time in Microwave Paper Drying

A. Sander, N. Bolf and J. Prlić Kardum

Abstract
Drying kinetics of paperboard with different grammages have been investigated in a laboratory microwave drier. The experiments were performed at four different values of specific microwave power between 440 W kg–1 and 1730 W kg–1. Experimental data of time varying paper moisture content were approximated with exponential Tomas&Skansi model and neural network model. A neural network based drying model was established using backpropagation algorithm for dynamic modelling of moisture content. Drying time is also evaluated from Tomas&Skansi drying equation, and compared with experimental values and those obtained with neural network based model. Both models successfully describe drying kinetics, and can be used for prediction of drying and required drying times at given process conditions.

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Keywords
drying kinetics, microwave drying, neural network, paper