Greenhouse Solar Drying and Thin Layer Drying Of Fresh Kapenta (Stolothrissa tanganicae)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to carry out an experimental investigation on drying fresh Kapenta in a Greenhouse Solar Dryer and to evaluate a suitable thin-layer drying model for the Kapenta. The nutritional constituents and quality of the Kapenta dried from the Greenhouse solar dryer and the open sun were also examined. To determine thin-layer drying characteristics of fresh Kapenta, drying in a hot air dryer at different air temperatures was carried out. The influence of the drying temperature (35, 45, 55 °C) on the moisture ratio and drying rate has been studied in this paper. The experimental drying data of Kapenta under different temperatures was fitted to three different thin-layer drying models by using non-linear least squares regression analysis in Excel, and the models compared according to three statistical parameters; coefficient of correlation, the reduced chi-square and the root mean square error. The coefficient of correlation values of Page were higher (0.980361- 0.997000), compared to the other models, indicating that the Page model was the best to describe drying curves of fresh Kapenta among the three models