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This study was intended to investigate microwave drying characteristics of sweet potato. Two different shaped sweet potato samples (slice and shred with 6 and 9 mm in thickness, respectively) were dried under different microwave power ranging from 90 W to 900 W. Moisture ratio, drying rate, effective moisture diffusivity, dielectric properties and change in color during drying of the samples were determined. The domestic microwave oven was modified for drying of the samples. For ventilating water vapor during microwave drying, the small centrifugal fan was installed on the left upper side of microwave oven. Six well-known drying models were applied to figure out the best model for describing microwave drying curve of sweet potato. A non-linear regression analysis was used to calculate model constants. The applied models were compared based on the coefficient of correlation and root mean square error. Dielectric properties of fresh and dried samples at different drying time were measured using performance probe connected to vector network analyzer. The results showed that drying time of both samples was significantly decreased with an increase in microwave power, however, as compared with the sample shape, drying time of shredded samples was shorter than slice sample. The dried sample by 900 W was scorching and indicated the worst quality in terms of color. The Page model was most suitable for describing experimental drying data. The effective moisture diffusivity changes obtained from Fick’s diffusion method was between 0.057 ×10-8 and 2.353 × 10-8 The moisture diffusivity was increased with an increase in microwave power. The measured dielectric properties of sample at different drying time varied depending upon moisture contents of dried samples.
