This research aims to provide a better understanding of whether dielectric heating can be used in commercial microwave drier. The overall objective is to develop a heat and mass transfer model for investigation of the interaction between electromagnetic wave and multi-layered porous materials, which can summarize in details as follow: (2.1) to analyze the moisture transport mechanism in a multi-layered porous materials, during applied electromagnetic energy (Microwave, infrared and hybrid heating); (2.2) to develop and experimentally validate a predictive model for heat and mass transfer in multi-layered porous media under electromagnetic Energy; (2.3) to determine the permeabilities required in the simulation. In this research, efforts were focused not only on developing a comprehensive coupled heat and mass transfer model to understand the underlying physics and the control of such a drying operation, but also on developing a simulation model considering temperature and/or moisture dependent thermal and transport properties of the same product. All the thermal, thermodynamic, physical, transport, and dielectric properties and relations were either from our measurements or from the existing literature. Furthermore, the study of specific absorption rate (SAR) and temperature increases in the head of a cellular-phone user is also done. In this study we can foresee a promising future for the application of electromagnetic (Microwave, infrared, RF, etc.) energy in relevant as we gain better understanding of both the technical and theoretical aspects of this technology.
