Thin layer solar drying of Moroccan carob pulp (Ceratonia Siliqua L.)

Abstract

Most biological products are highly perishable, so the issue of their conservation during large transportation distances and storage is a sensitive problem. Solar drying is the most useful method of keeping food staff safe in terms of both energy and time. Our work aims to contribute to the optimization of solar convective drying at the pulp of carob widely produced in Morocco by an experimental approach in an indirect forced convection solar dryer. In this paper, the effect of air temperature on the drying kinetics of carob pulp was investigated in convective solar drying. The relative humidity of air was varied from 15% to 45.5%. This kinetic measurement is carried out at four temperature values of drying air (50, 60, 70 and 80 °C) and also for one value of drying air flow rate Dv (0.0833 ± 0.002 m3 s-1). Four models have been used to adjust experimental curves. In conclusion, the experimental study shows that solar drying is adapted for the valorisation of carob pulp. Middili & Kucuk model is the most appropriate to describe drying curves in various drying conditions.