Drying of turmeric was carried out in a solar conduction dryer (SCD). Drying air temperature
was achieved around 39–51 C for an ambient temperature in the range of 25–28
C. Moisture content from 78.65% (wb), was reduced to 6.36% (wb) and 5.50% (wb) for solid
and sliced samples respectively in 12 h effective drying time. Drying curve of sliced samples
showed more uniform falling in comparison to that of whole samples. The average effective
moisture diffusivity was found to be 1.852 · 1010m2 s1 for slab samples and 1.456
· 1010m2 s1 for solid samples. Out of four models tried for simulation, Page model was
found as best fitted thin layer drying model when simulation was done for all the drying
data. The overall thermal efficiency of the dryer was found to be 55%. Drying of sliced rhizomes
showed better drying kinetics and effective drying time could be reduced by slicing
instead of drying in whole form.