Comparison of the dried properties of Ganoderma lucidum produced by the convective dryer and infrared dryer

The Ganoderma Lucidum is known as a promising medicine that contains a high amount of antioxidants and calcium. The selection of appropriate drying process methods in food science has a chief role to reach the best final characteristics. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of air velocity and temperature in the convective dryer, sample distance, and infrared power in infrared dryers on the drying kinetics and quality of Ganoderma lucidum slices. In addition, Response Surface Methodology based on central composition design was used to optimize and analyze drying conditions. The ranges of temperature and air velocity were 40 to 60 C° and 0.5 to 1.5 m/s , respectively in the convective drying process while the range of distance and infrared power was 4 to 16 cm and 500 to 1500 W , respectively in the infrared drying process. It is worth mentioning that antioxidant and calcium contents were greatly enhanced during the drying procedures. Moreover, the values of the total color difference ranged between 8.21 and 19.66 for convective dryer and 8.14 and 28.85 for infrared dryer. A kinetic study indicated that dried samples by infrared dryer could rapidly reach equilibrium moisture content due to exposure to IR radiation. Consequently, the results indicated that the infrared dryer has better performance than the convective dryer regarding drying time, energy consumption, and amount of calcium and antioxidant.