Performance Evaluation of Pneumatic Dryer for Aren (Arenga piñata) Flour

Abstract

Aren (Arenga pinata) tree is one type of palm plant that produces fruit, sap and starch or flour in the trunk. Industries aren flour usually in small and medium industries is dried by conventional method with dried under the sun. The main constraint is the low drying speed. Therefore, in this study aren flour with a water content of 40% was dried using a pneumatic dryer to moisture content below 15% (wet base). The aim of this research is to analyze the influence of drying air temperature, drying air flow rate and feeding speed to drying speed and energy analysis. Energy analysis was performed to determine the performance of pneumatic dryers. The energy analysis itself is done in the form of energy utilization and energy efficiency. The results show that the increase of dryer temperature from 60 to 100 will increase the utilization of energy from 0.61 to 1.39 J / s, energy efficiency is 33.4-45.1%. the results of a proximate analysis, an ash content of 0.39 grain fiber 0.18 white degree 92.93% which already fulfill SNI standard of Aren flour.