Eliane Thérèse Biassala^{1, 2,}, Célestine Kiminou Ngounga^{1, 3}, Bob Wilfrid Loumouamou^{1, 4}, Judelvie Léovic Matimbou^{1, 2}, Jean-Mathurin Nzikou², Thomas Silou^{1, 5}

This work aimed to model the kinetics of drying Citrus seeds in an oven. C. sinensis (orange), C. reticulata (mandarin), C. paradisi (pomelo) and C. aurantium (bigarade). The fruits of the species studied from the Plateaux des cataractes were purchased in Brazzaville, specifically at the Plateau des 15 ans and PK markets. Drying was carried out at temperatures of 40, 70 and 105°C in a Memmert brand UN30 oven. Mass measurements were taken every 30 minutes for several hours until the moisture content was almost constant. The modeling of the drying kinetics of citrus seeds was carried out by the Origin Pro 2018 software while following seven models, namely: the models Diffusional, Modified Page I, Lewis, Henderson and Pabis, Page, Avhad and Marchetti, Peleg. The observations of this study on the drying kinetics of seeds highlighted two distinct phases: a rapid temperature increase phase and a gradual decrease phase. Temperature impacted the drying kinetics. As the temperature increases, the drying period decreases. Between 40 and 70 °C, bitter orange seeds are the first to dry out, followed by pomelo seeds, and finally mandarin and orange seeds. For each of the temperatures examined, the Avhad and Marchetti model was the most appropriate to represent the experimental drying data of the different citrus seed species studied.

Citrus, Thermal energy, speed, mathematical model