Publisher:
A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF THE FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (TECHNICAL), UMUNZE, ANAMBRA STATE
{"id":6,"volume_name":"Vol 5 Number 2","created_at":null,"updated_at":null,"url":"volumes\/5.jpg"}
(2):
1118-0315:
doi: January 2017
Published in
2017
Open air solar drying is one of the oldest methods of food preservation but research has shown that during this process, crops due get contaminated and due to uncontrolled amount of sun light crops due loss their quality. In other to improve the process of drying agricultural crops, solar cabinet dryer was discovered. This research investigates the field performance of efficiency of a solar cabinet dryer on agricultural crops. Two samples of Okro (Abelmoschus Esculentus) and pepper (pipper congum) were bought from Eke Awka market in Anambra state. The samples were prepared in readiness for the drying using solar dryer. Three sets of thermometer and a veto letter dual weighing balance and a solar cabinet were used for the experiment. Each sample was weighed in two places to a 300g of mass and placed in chambers 1 and 2 of the solar cabinet dryer. This was done for experiments 1 and 2. Experiment 1 lasted for four days while experiment 2 lasted for three days. The result of the experiment showed that in the first experiment the highest temperature attained was 600c in chamber 1 and 590c in chamber 2 while in the second experiment it was 620c in chamber 1 and 580c in chamber 2. The result of the changes in the masses of Okro and Pepper in the experiment 1 showed that mass of Okro reduced from 300g to 65g in chamber 1 and 90g in chamber 2, while pepper reduced from 300g to 105g both in chambers 1 and 2. In the second experiment the masses of Okro reduced from 300g to 65g both in chambers 1 and 2, while Pepper reduced from 300g to 80g both in chambers 1 and 2.The results of the drying of Okro and Pepper has shown that solar cabinet dryer can be used as effective and safe instrument in the drying and preservation of agricultural produce, and that large quantities of the two products can always be dried and stored.
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