Abstract:

Hot air drying, microwave drying and their combination were compared for their effects on drying characteristics
and quality of leaves of Toona sinensis. The results showed that the synthesizing value of leaves dried by hot air at 60 ℃
and microwave at 550 W were higher, 0.890 and 0.884, respectively. The optimal hot air-microwave drying process
involved hot air drying at 60 ℃ to a moisture content of 0.67 kg/kg (dry basis) followed by microwave drying at 330 W.
The synthesizing value of the resulting dried product was 0.972 suggesting that hot air-microwave drying could well
maintain the quality of Toona sinensis.

Key words: Toona sinensis, hot air drying, microwave drying, hot air-microwave drying