The objective of this work was to study the drying kinetics of four coffee berry clones Coffea canephora species dried in ground pavement and to fit different mathematical models to different experimental data selecting the one that best represents the phenomenon. Have been used coffee berry of clones: Cpafro 194, Cpafro 193, Cpafro 167 and Cpafro 180, harvested at moisture content of 1.20; 1.32; 1.51 e 1.46 (decimal d.b.), respectively. The drying continued in ground pavement until achieved the moisture content of 0.13 (decimal d.b.). Ten mathematical models cited in the literature were fitted to the experimental data in order to represent the drying process. Based on the statistical parameters it can be concluded that the Verma, Dois Termos and Aproximação da Difusão models represent well the drying of four coffee berry clones, and beyond these for the clone Cpafro 167, the Thompson, Page, Newton, Logarítmico, Henderson e Pabis and Exponencial de Dois Termos models also shown in satisfactory description of the phenomenon; the drying time in ground pavement of coffee berry clones Cpafro 194, Cpafro 193, Cpafro 167 and Cpafro 180, until the moisture content of 0.13 (decimal d.b.) was 189.5 hours.
coffee berry; clones; mathematical model; moisture content
