2Deficit irrigation is one of the irrigation management methods that is used to increase Water Use Efficiency. Considering the internal plant adaptability characteristic to water shortage, Partial Root Drying method has been introduced in recent years. In this field research improvement of Water Use Efficiency for Soybean was determined. This experiment which was conducted at four furrow irrigation treatments at the Research Field of Tehran University in Karaj in 2008, consists of full irrigation (100% soil moisture deficit compensation), conventional deficit irrigation at 50 and 75 percent soil moisture deficit compensation and Partial Root Drying at 50 percent soil moisture deficit compensation with three replications. The amounts of irrigation used were exactly compensation level (negligible loss). Results indicated that Water Use Efficiency according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test at the five percent level of probability there was a significant difference between partial root drying treatment (PRD50%) and conventional deficit irrigation treatment at fifty percent soil moisture deficit compensation (DI50%),. Water Use Efficiency in PRD50% compared with DI50%, DI75% and full irrigation increased by 48.3%, 61.9% and 70.1% respectively.

Deficit irrigation is one of the irrigation management methods that is used to increase Water Use Efficiency. Considering the internal plant adaptability characteristic to water shortage, Partial Root Drying method has been introduced in recent years. In this field research improvement of Water Use Efficiency for Soybean was determined. This experiment which was conducted at four furrow irrigation treatments at the Research Field of Tehran University in Karaj in 2008, consists of full irrigation (100% soil moisture deficit compensation), conventional deficit irrigation at 50 and 75 percent soil moisture deficit compensation and Partial Root Drying at 50 percent soil moisture deficit compensation with three replications. The amounts of irrigation used were exactly compensation level (negligible loss). Results indicated that Water Use Efficiency according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test at the five percent level of probability there was a significant difference between partial root drying treatment (PRD50%) and conventional deficit irrigation treatment at fifty percent soil moisture deficit compensation (DI50%). Water Use Efficiency in PRD50% compared with DI50%, DI75% and full irrigation increased by 48.3%, 61.9% and 70.1% respectively.

Drying is one of the most effective methods to increase the shelf life of food products. Increasing efficiency and reducing energy consumption in drying is essential. Saving time and energy are the best advantages of the microwave drying method. So this work aims to investigates the influences of microwave power (P), mass of product (M) and time (T) on the absorbed energy and energy loss and also predict the efficiency during microwave dehydration of apple leaves. We perform the investigation at P=100, 300 and 600 W, M=20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 g; and T=60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 s. In this paper, three different machine learning methods are used to simulate the absorbed energy and energy loss of apple along with prediction of the microwave efficiency during dehydration process. These methods are: artificial neural networks (ANNs), adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and support vector machines (SVM) coupled with firefly algorithm (FFA) Our results indicates that the amount of absorbed energy by apple during microwave dehydration strongly depends on on the amount of the mass. The highest and lowest efficiency of the microwave was observed in the power of 600 W and mass of 100 g, and the lowest efficiency was observed in the time of 180 s and power of 100W. Also, absorbed energy at 600W was found to be almost four times higher than that at 100 W. ANFIS and SVM-FFA showed good results than ANN for predicting absorbed energy, energy loss and microwave efficiency.

In this study, the energy assessment and heat recovery analysis of the multi-cylinder drying section were carried out in a fluting paper machine. The specific heat consumption per unit of paper was determined to be about 4.7 GJ/ton of paper and accordingly, the machine consumed about 1.71 tons of steam per ton of produced paper. The temperature efficiency of the heat exchanger and the recovering efficiency of the heat recovery system within the paper machine have been determined to be about 50% and 4%, respectively. The results show that the steam used in the heat recovery system can be reduced by about 0.95 tons/h due to adjusting the supply air temperature to the optimum range, which corresponds to about a 5.2% reduction in energy input and 4% improvement in dryer efficiency resulting nearly 31,000 $ savings per year. Also, the CO2 emission due to gas use can be decreased by about 925 tons/y.

IntroductionSour cherries (Prunus cerasus L.) are relatively diverse and broadly distributed around the world, being found in Asia, Europe, and North America. Sour cherries have unique anthocyanin content, and rich in phenolic compounds. The fruits are generally used for processing purposes, such as for production juice and jam. The fruits of sour cherries can also be frozen and dried. One of the best methods for the preservation of agricultural product is drying, which involves removing water from the manufactured goods. Dried sour cherries have a long shelf life and therefore may be a fine alternative to fresh fruit all year round. There are no reports on the effect of microwave pretreatment on the hot air drying kinetics of sour cherries in the literature. Hence, the purpose of this study was to estimate the impacts of microwave pretreatment on the total phenolics, drying time, mass transfer kinetic, effective moisture diffusivity, total color difference index, shrinkage and rehydration of sour cherry. In addition, the moisture ratio changes of sour cherry during drying were modeled. Material and MethodsSour cherries were purchased from the market at Bahar, Hamedan Province, Iran. The average diameter of fresh sour cherries was 1.6 cm. In this study, the water content of fresh and dried sour cherries was calculated using an oven at 103°C for 5 h (Shimaz, Iran). In this research, the effect of microwave time on the drying time, effective moisture diffusivity coefficient and rehydration of sour cherries was investigated and drying kinetics were modeled. To apply the microwave pretreatment on the sour cherries, a microwave oven (Gplus, Model; GMW-M425S.MIS00, Goldiran Industries Co., Iran) was used under atmospheric pressure. In this work, the influence of the microwave pretreatment time at five levels of 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 s (power=220W) on the cherries was examined. After taking out the treated sour cherries from microwave device, the samples were placed in the hot-air dryer (70°C) as a thin layers. The dehydration kinetics of sour cherries were explained using 7 simplified drying equations. Fick's second law of diffusion using spherical coordinates was used to calculate the moisture diffusivity of sour cherries at various hot-air drying conditions. The rehydration test was conducted with a water bath (R.J42, Pars Azma Co., Iran). Dried sour cherries were weighed and immersed for 30 min in distilled water in a 250 ml glass beaker at 50°C. Results and DiscussionThe results showed that microwave treatment led to an increase in moisture removal rate from the sour cherries, an increase in the effective moisture diffusivity coefficient, and, consequently, a decrease in drying time. By increasing the microwave time from 0 to 12 s, the average drying time of sour cherries in the hot-air dryer was decreased from 370 min to 250 min (p<0.05). The average effective moisture diffusivity coefficient calculated for the samples placed in the hot-air dryer was 4.25×10-10 m2/s. Increasing the microwave time from 0 to 120 s increased the average effective moisture diffusivity coefficient by 85%. The maximum amount of phenolic was related to the sample treated with microwave for 90 seconds. Microwave treatment time had no significant effect on the rehydration of dried sour cherries. ConclusionKinetic modeling of weight changes of sour cherries during drying was carried out using models in the sources, followed the Page model was selected as the best model to predict moisture ratio changes under the selected experimental conditions. The mean values of sum of squares due to error, root mean square error, and r for all samples ranged from 0.001 to 0.007, 0.005 to 0.017, and 0.997 to 0.999, respectively. Generally, 120 s pre-treatment by microwave is the best condition for drying sour cherries.

Khuzestan province produces 120, 000 tones rice every year and possesses the forth rank in rice production in Iran. Paddy rice must be dried before milling. In some regions in Khuzestan, paddy is dried in traditional bed driers, resulting high costs and high losses from the point of quantity and quality. An indirect cabinet solar dryer with three trays and grooved collector was constructed to use solar energy, a project that could help farmers to increase their income and to reduce paddy losses. To measure and to record drying air temperature and humidity at different places (collector air incoming and outgoing and the drying chamber), a Digital Data Logger was designed, fabricated and mounted on the solar dryer. The dryer performance was evaluated by drying two paddy varieties (Shafagh and Anboori) in three levels of mass density of 1, 2, and 3 trays at two different solar dryer types of collectors: simple grooved collector (collector A) and grooved filled by turnery iron chaff collector (collector B). The results showed that maximum and minimum drying period required in different solar dryer treatments were 4 and 6. 1 hours for Shafagh with 1 tray and for Anboori with 3 trays respectively. Longer time required for drying paddy rice in upper trays as the air flowing decreased due to increase in mass density. Mean time required for drying Shafagh variety was 12. 8% shorter than that of Anboori variety. Increasing in number of trays in the solar dryer resulted in less rice losses. Results showed that utilizing solar energy, as a clean renewable energy source and appropriate method for reducing costs of drying paddy rice, could be recommended to use in Khuzestan province condition.

Calorific value, as a key component for fuel quality assessment, directly affects the thermal power plants' efficiency. While high-quality coal is consumed as metallurgical coal, low-rank coals are used by coal-fired power plants. The high moisture content of the thermal coals significantly influences their heating values. In this study, the drying performances of the fixed bed and air dense medium fluidized bed (ADMFB) dryers were investigated under the superficial air velocity of 15-18 cm/s, inlet air temperature of 55-75 ºC, and up to 80 minutes of operation. Low air consumption is an intrinsic characteristic for ADMFB, while a low-temperature range for drying air was selected to address the coal-fired power plants' waste heat. It was found that an increase in air velocity and temperature favored the drying efficiency of both systems (i.e., 18 cm/s and 75 ºC), with the temperature being more effective than the air velocity. The ADMFB dryer removed comparatively more moisture than the fixed bed for the shorter drying durations. For example, for 10% moisture reduction at 75 °C, the ADMFB dryer needed 5 minutes less time than the fixed bed. The fitting quality and goodness of serval well-known thin-layer models for describing fluidized bed and ADMFB coal drying kinetics were assessed by several models and statistical evaluators, respectively. It was found that the Middilli & Kucuk model best describes the fixed bed coal drying (i.e., R2=0.999, RSE=0.001, RMSE=0.008), while the Page model much properly simulates the ADMFB coal drying (i.e., R2=0.998, RSE=0.002, RMSE=0.009).