Mathematical modeling and polysaccharide content of Ganoderma lucidum by hot air impingement drying

Abstract. Drying kinetics of Ganoderma lucidum was investigated in an air impingement dryer at the drying temperature of 55 – 70 ^oC with a constant air velocity of 15 m/s. The drying time decreased significantly with the increase of drying temperature. The experimental drying curves showed only a falling rate period. The experimental results were fitted to 10 thin-layer drying models and it was found that modified Page models best described the drying curves. The moisture effective diffusivity ranged from 1.96×10^-9 to 6.01×10^-9 m²/s calculated using the Fick’s second law of diffusion. Activation energy for moisture diffusion of the Ganoderma lucidum samples was found to be 69.05 kJ/mol. Ganoderma lucidum samples dried at 65 ^oC revealed the highest polysaccharide content than dried at other temperatures.