Bio
Dr. Mohammad Zarein is a distinguished researcher in the field of agricultural machinery engineering, specializing in microwave drying, energy efficiency, and postharvest technology. He is affiliated with the Mechanics of Agricultural Machinery Engineering Department at Tarbiat Modares University (TMU) in Tehran, Iran. With a Ph.D. in his field, Dr. Zarein has made significant contributions to the understanding of microwave drying kinetics and energy efficiency in food processing. He has published 21 works, accumulating over 473 citations, with an h-index of 8 and an i10-index of 7. His research has been supported by grants from the Iran National Science Foundation. Dr. Zarein also serves as a reviewer for several international journals. His work is widely recognized, and he maintains an active presence on academic platforms such as ORCID, Scopus, and Google Scholar.
Educational Journey
Ph.D.
Experience
Grants and Awards
Development of an intelligent system to determine the authenticity of edible oils using microwave dielectric properties
Iran National Science Foundation
Research
Investigation of Microwave Power Effects on Drying Kinetics and Energy Efficiency of Banana Samples
The banana samples were dried in a laboratory scale microwave oven at different powers of 200, 300, 400 and 500 W. The results showed that microwave power significantly influenced the total heating time and energy efficiency of drying processing. In this study, the measured moisture ratio (MR) values were fitted and compared with predicted values obtained from Midilli’s thin layer drying semi-empirical equation. Highest value of R2 and the lowest values of χ2 and RMSE for banana samples at different powers are obtained as 0.9999, 1.6618×10-5 and 0.0043 respectively. Also, within the range of microwave power values, 200–500 W, effective moisture diffusivities were found to be 1.4×10-5 to 5.52×10-5 m2/min. The microwave power dependence of the effective diffusivity coefficient followed an Arrhenius-type relationship. The activation energy for the moisture diffusion was determined to be 11.2 W/g. Increasing the microwave power resulted in a considerable increase in average energy efficiency and it was in the range of 8.8 to 39%.
Effects of Zinc and Nitrogen on Yield Components of Five Flax Genotypes
Flax is one of the earliest plants that has been domesticated by humans. Due to high amounts of omega-3 fatty acid, its cultivation and consumption is increasing as a healthy oil resource. In nutritional point of physiology zinc and nitrogen are two important elements in plant biosynthesis. So in this experiment, effects of three levels of nitrogen (40, 60 and 80 kg/ha) and two levels of zinc sulfate (control and 3/1000) on five flax cultivars in split factorial based on randomized complete block design was investigated. The results showed that genotypes in terms of height, capsul number, seed yield and biological yield revealed significant differences (Pô€‚”ô€€“ô€€‘ô€€“ô€€”ô€€Œô€€‘ô€€ƒô€€¬ô€‘ô€€ƒô€„ô€‡ô€‡ô€Œô€—ô€Œô€’ô€‘ô€€ƒô€—ô€‹ô€ˆô€€ƒô€•ô€ˆô€–ô€˜ô€ô€—ô€–ô€€ƒô€–ô€‹ô€’ô€šô€ˆô€‡ô€€ƒô€—ô€‹ô€„ô€—ô€€ƒô€—ô€‹ô€ˆô€€ƒô€‹ô€Œô€Šô€‹ô€ˆô€–ô€—ô€€ƒô€œô€Œô€ˆô€ô€‡ô€€ƒô€šô€„ô€–ô€€ƒô€’ô€…ô€—ô€„ô€Œô€‘ô€ˆô€‡ô€€ƒô€‰ô€•ô€’ô€ô€€ƒô€—ô€•ô€ˆô€„ô€—ô€ô€ˆô€‘ô€—ô€€ƒô€’ô€‰ô€€ƒô€€›ô€€“ô€€ƒ kg nitrogen and (3/1000) zinc sulfate spray.
Mathematical Modeling of Dried Banana Slices with MCHP Dryer
In this research work, the waste heat of exhaust gas of an engine-generator for the process of banana slices drying was used and tested. Drying experiments were conducted at different engine loads (25%, 50%, 75% and full load) and thickness of the samples (3, 5 and 7 mm). At load 25%, 50%, 75% and full load the temperatures produced in drying chamber was 50, 60, 70 and 80 ℃ respectively. The experiments were done at air velocity 0.5 m/s. Three drying models were fitted to the experimental data of moisture ratio in order to assess a suitable form of the drying curve for banana drying. For banana with 3 (mm) thickness page model offering maximum average value of EF and minimum average value of RMSE and χ2 namely 0.99745, 0.01473875 and 0.000208443 and for banana slice with thickness of 5 and 7 (mm) Logarithmic model offering maximum average value of EF and minimum average value of RMSE and χ2 namely 0.9966, 0.01472 and 0.00022 respectively.
