Effect of Different Drying Methods on the Drying Kinetics of Fermented Cardaba Banana Peels

Abstract

Cardaba banana peels (Musa acuminata) were fermented for three days and dried using solar dryer, open sun and tunnel dryer. Nonlinear regression analysis was used to fit in the experimental data.  Moisture drying was investigated using Fick’s second law. Statistical tools such as coefficient of determination (R2), reduced chi square (χ2), Mean Bias Error (MBE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) were used to test the reliability of the model. Sample dried in sun had single falling rate pattern whereas samples in solar and tunnel dryer exhibited a second falling rate pattern. The values of R2 ranged from 0.872 - 0.989, χ2(1.4E-34 - 0.0624), MBE (-0.0067 - 0.0491) and RMSE (1.1E-17 - 0.2247). Effective moisture diffusivity for samples dried in solar, tunnel and sun were 2.92 E-11m2/s, 1.98 E-11m2/s and 1.09 E-11m2/s, respectively. The energy of activation in the process was 64.9kJ/mol. Page model best described drying behavior of the samples.Keywords: Fermentation, banana peels, drying, models, diffusivity, activation energy