In this paper, multi-stage continuous belt (MSCB) dryer was used for carrot slices drying. Experiments were performed at three air speeds (1, 1.5, and 2 m/s) three belt linear velocities (2.5, 6.5, and 10.5 mm/s), and three air temperatures (40, 55, and 70 °C) in triplicate. Three intelligent systems including Ant-Lion-Optimizer (ALO), Grey-Wolf-Optimizer (GWO) and Whale-Optimization-Algorithm (WOA) models were developed to predict the thermodynamic properties of carrot slices including of effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) and specific energy consumption (SEC). The results revealed that Deff and SEC values were in the range of 1.77–2.90×10−9m2 /s and 169.77–551.19 MJ/kg, respectively. The models of ALO, GWO, and WOA were able to predict the value of Deff and SEC. The amounts of correlation coefficient (R), root-mean-square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE) for ALO, GWO, and WOA models for predication Deff were obtained (0.9989, 7.81×10−12, and 1.50×10−12), (0.9993, 5.39×10−12, and 1.03×10−12) and (0.9994, 4.95×10−12, and 9.54×10−13), respectively. In addition, The amounts of R, RMSE, and MAE for ALO, GWO, and WOA model for predication SEC were obtained (0.9983, 0.6700, and 0.1289), (0.9988, 0.5274, and 0.0715) and (0.9996, 0.2566, and 0.0060), respectively. Therefore, model of WOA can be used to easily and accurately predict Deff and SEC values.
