moisture content at any time of drying (kg water/kg dry matter), initial moisture content (kg water/kg dry matter) and equilibrium moisture content (kg water/kg dry matter), respectively.
The moisture ratio was simplified to Mt/M0 instead of Eq. (1) by some investigators due to the continuous fluctuation of the relative humidity of the drying air during microwave drying process.
The drying rate of samples was calculated using the follow- ing equations: