摘要：Recently, interest on olive leaves ( Olea europaea L.) has been increased because the leaves are a rich source of phenolic compounds. Although olive leaves can be used in food, medicine and drug industries, their use and research on this matter is limited. The critical process in olive leaf treatment is drying and the drying behaviors of olive leaves are not known. In this study, olive leaves were dried in a tray drier to determine the dying behaviors of olive leaves. Eleven of semi-theoretical thin layer drying curve models were used to model the drying behaviors of olive leaves and non-linear regression analysis were performed to obtain the model that gives the best fit to the experimental data. After calculating the coefficients of the models, the effect of air velocity to the coefficients of models were determined at 50 oC with non-linear regression analysis. The primary criterion for selecting the best equation to describe the drying curve equation is correlation coefficient ( r ). In addition to r , the reduced chi-square (χ2) was used to determine the best fit. According to regression analysis, the best model describing the thin layer drying characteristics of olive leaves at 50 oC and air velocity interval of 0.5 and 1.5 m/s was Modified Henderson and Pabis model with r = 0.99960 and χ2 = 6.81 x 10-5.
