Mapping the drying characteristics of biological products is essential for drying time estimation and reduction of energy consumption. The knowledge of mass transfer parameters during different drying conditions is required for process and equipment design and is of great industrial importance. In this work, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach was adopted to model the vacuum drying kinetics of moringa leaves. Levenberg–Marquardt’s training algorithm with LOGSIGMOID and TANSIGMOID hidden layer transfer functions gave superior results for the prediction of moisture content and moisture ratio, respectively. Further, a comparative evaluation of the predictive capability of ANN and 7 different semi-empirical models was performed. The Page model was found suitable to fit the experimental data with a R² comparable to that of ANN. However, the MSE observed for ANN (1.05 × 10^-6) was significantly lower than that of Page model (2.56 × 10^-6 to 5.81 × 10^-4). Effective moisture diffusivity and mass transfer coefficient increased with increase in temperature from 0.71 × 10^-9 to 1.91 × 10^-9 m²/s and, 1.07 × 10^-7 to 4.07 × 10^-7 m/s, respectively. Activation energy for drying of moringa leaves was calculated as 42.84 kJ/mol which showed moderate energy requirements for moisture diffusion. Specific energy consumed was directly affected by drying time and varied from 6.07-22.26 kW h/kg. Drying temperature of 60 °C resulted in higher drying rate, lower drying time and energy consumption and therefore, recommended for drying of Moringa olifera leaves.

绘制生物产品的干燥特性图对于估计干燥时间和降低能耗至关重要。对于不同的干燥条件，传质参数的知识是工艺和设备设计所必需的，并且在工业上具有重要的意义。在这项工作中，采用了人工神经网络（ANN）方法对辣木叶片的真空干燥动力学进行建模。Levenberg–Marquardt的具有LOGSIGMOID和TANSIGMOID隐藏层传递函数的训练算法分别为预测含水量和含水率提供了优异的结果。此外，对ANN的预测能力和7种不同的半经验模型进行了比较评估。发现Page模型适合使用R ²拟合实验数据与人工神经网络相当。但是，ANN的MSE（1.05×10 ^-6）显着低于Page模型的MSE（2.56×10 ^-6至5.81×10 ^-4）。有效水分扩散率和传质系数随温度的升高而从0.71×10 ^-9增至1.91×10 ^-9 m ² / s，从1.07×10 ^-7增至4.07×10 ^-7分别为m / s。辣木叶片干燥的活化能经计算为42.84 kJ / mol，显示出适度的水分扩散能量需求。消耗的比能量直接受到干燥时间的影响，范围为6.07-22.26 kW h / kg。60°C的干燥温度可提高干燥速率，缩短干燥时间并降低能耗，因此建议用于辣木叶的干燥。