Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province

Introduction Many vegetables such as mint are highly seasonal in nature. They are available in plenty at a particular period of time in specific regions that many times result in market glut. Due to perishable nature, huge quantity of vegetables is spoiled within a short period. The post-harvest lo...

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Autores principales:	J Habibi Asl, L Behbahani, A Azizi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FA
Publicado:	Ferdowsi University of Mashhad 2017
Materias:	chlorophyll essences forced convection mint natural convection solar dryer Agriculture (General) S1-972 Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/47c317027bca43ca8e68118c5cd5ed68
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:47c317027bca43ca8e68118c5cd5ed68
record_format	dspace
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FA
topic	chlorophyll essences forced convection mint natural convection solar dryer Agriculture (General) S1-972 Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040
spellingShingle	chlorophyll essences forced convection mint natural convection solar dryer Agriculture (General) S1-972 Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) TA1-2040 J Habibi Asl L Behbahani A Azizi Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province
description	Introduction Many vegetables such as mint are highly seasonal in nature. They are available in plenty at a particular period of time in specific regions that many times result in market glut. Due to perishable nature, huge quantity of vegetables is spoiled within a short period. The post-harvest loss in vegetables has been estimated to be about 30-40% due to inadequate post-harvest handling, lack of infrastructure, processing, marketing and storage facilities. Therefore, the food processing sector can play a vital role in reducing the post-harvest losses and value addition of vegetables which will ensure better remuneration to the growers. Drying is a common technique for preservation of food and other products; including fruits and vegetables. The major advantage of drying food products is the reduction of moisture content to a safe level that allows extending the shelf life of dried products. The removal of water from foods provides microbiological stability and reduces deteriorate chemical reactions. Also, the process allows a substantial reduction in terms of mass, volume, packaging requirement, storage and transportation costs with more convenience. Sun drying is a well known traditional method of drying agricultural products immediately after harvest. However, it is plagued with in-built problems, since the product is unprotected from rain, storm, windborne dirt, dust, and infestation by insects, rodents, and other animals. It may result in physical and structural changes in the product such as shrinkage, case hardening, loss of volatiles and nutrient components and lower water reabsorption during rehydration. Therefore, the quality of sun dried product is degraded and sometimes become not suitable for human consumption. For these reasons, to utilize renewable energy sources, reduce vegetable losses and increase farmers income, the current project has been conducted in the Agricultural Engineering Department of Khuzestan Agricultural Research Center during the years 2011-2013. Materials and Methods In this research an indirect cabinet solar dryer with three trays and grooved collector was constructed. To improve air convection, a chimney was mounted above the dryer. The dryer performance was evaluated by drying mint leaves in three levels of mass density of 2, 3, and 4 kg m-2 at two drying manners of natural and forced convection and compared with drying mint leaves in shade as the traditional method. Results and Discussion The results showed that total drying time required in different solar drier treatments was 3.5 to 15 h, while it was about 5 days in traditional method. Drying time in upper trays was more as the air flow decreased due to increase in mass density. Mean required drying time in forced convection was 29.7% less than that of natural convection. Maximum essences with 0.80% and 0.76% were belonged to "natural convection and 3kg m-2 mass density" and "forced convection and 4 kg m-2 mass density" treatments respectively, while minimum one with 0.30% was for "forced convection and 2 kg m-2 mass density" treatment. Also, the highest and lowest chlorophyll content with 8.51 and 4.18 mg ml-1 were measured in "natural convection and 3 kg m-2 mass density" and "forced convection and 4 kg m-2 mass density" treatments respectively. According to obtained results, 3 and 4 kg m-2 mass density can be suggested for natural and forced convection solar drying of mint leaves in Khuzestan condition respectively. Conclusions In order to reduce vegetable losses and increase Khuzestan vegetable producers income, indirect cabinet solar dryer for drying mint leaves in winter season, could be an appropriate option. For natural and forced convection drying methods, mass density of 3 and 4 kg m-2 is recommended respectively.
format	article
author	J Habibi Asl L Behbahani A Azizi
author_facet	J Habibi Asl L Behbahani A Azizi
author_sort	J Habibi Asl
title	Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province
title_short	Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province
title_full	Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province
title_fullStr	Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province
title_full_unstemmed	Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province
title_sort	evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in khuzestan province
publisher	Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/47c317027bca43ca8e68118c5cd5ed68
work_keys_str_mv	AT jhabibiasl evaluationandcomparingofnaturalandforcedsolardryerformintdryinginkhuzestanprovince AT lbehbahani evaluationandcomparingofnaturalandforcedsolardryerformintdryinginkhuzestanprovince AT aazizi evaluationandcomparingofnaturalandforcedsolardryerformintdryinginkhuzestanprovince
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:47c317027bca43ca8e68118c5cd5ed682021-11-14T06:33:54ZEvaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province2228-68292423-394310.22067/jam.v7i1.48370https://doaj.org/article/47c317027bca43ca8e68118c5cd5ed682017-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://jame.um.ac.ir/article_31517_460c28dd64fa0600aea61d5c9465c7f7.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/2228-6829https://doaj.org/toc/2423-3943Introduction Many vegetables such as mint are highly seasonal in nature. They are available in plenty at a particular period of time in specific regions that many times result in market glut. Due to perishable nature, huge quantity of vegetables is spoiled within a short period. The post-harvest loss in vegetables has been estimated to be about 30-40% due to inadequate post-harvest handling, lack of infrastructure, processing, marketing and storage facilities. Therefore, the food processing sector can play a vital role in reducing the post-harvest losses and value addition of vegetables which will ensure better remuneration to the growers. Drying is a common technique for preservation of food and other products; including fruits and vegetables. The major advantage of drying food products is the reduction of moisture content to a safe level that allows extending the shelf life of dried products. The removal of water from foods provides microbiological stability and reduces deteriorate chemical reactions. Also, the process allows a substantial reduction in terms of mass, volume, packaging requirement, storage and transportation costs with more convenience. Sun drying is a well known traditional method of drying agricultural products immediately after harvest. However, it is plagued with in-built problems, since the product is unprotected from rain, storm, windborne dirt, dust, and infestation by insects, rodents, and other animals. It may result in physical and structural changes in the product such as shrinkage, case hardening, loss of volatiles and nutrient components and lower water reabsorption during rehydration. Therefore, the quality of sun dried product is degraded and sometimes become not suitable for human consumption. For these reasons, to utilize renewable energy sources, reduce vegetable losses and increase farmers income, the current project has been conducted in the Agricultural Engineering Department of Khuzestan Agricultural Research Center during the years 2011-2013. Materials and Methods In this research an indirect cabinet solar dryer with three trays and grooved collector was constructed. To improve air convection, a chimney was mounted above the dryer. The dryer performance was evaluated by drying mint leaves in three levels of mass density of 2, 3, and 4 kg m-2 at two drying manners of natural and forced convection and compared with drying mint leaves in shade as the traditional method. Results and Discussion The results showed that total drying time required in different solar drier treatments was 3.5 to 15 h, while it was about 5 days in traditional method. Drying time in upper trays was more as the air flow decreased due to increase in mass density. Mean required drying time in forced convection was 29.7% less than that of natural convection. Maximum essences with 0.80% and 0.76% were belonged to "natural convection and 3kg m-2 mass density" and "forced convection and 4 kg m-2 mass density" treatments respectively, while minimum one with 0.30% was for "forced convection and 2 kg m-2 mass density" treatment. Also, the highest and lowest chlorophyll content with 8.51 and 4.18 mg ml-1 were measured in "natural convection and 3 kg m-2 mass density" and "forced convection and 4 kg m-2 mass density" treatments respectively. According to obtained results, 3 and 4 kg m-2 mass density can be suggested for natural and forced convection solar drying of mint leaves in Khuzestan condition respectively. Conclusions In order to reduce vegetable losses and increase Khuzestan vegetable producers income, indirect cabinet solar dryer for drying mint leaves in winter season, could be an appropriate option. For natural and forced convection drying methods, mass density of 3 and 4 kg m-2 is recommended respectively.J Habibi AslL BehbahaniA AziziFerdowsi University of Mashhadarticlechlorophyllessencesforced convectionmintnatural convectionsolar dryerAgriculture (General)S1-972Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)TA1-2040ENFAJournal of Agricultural Machinery, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 114-125 (2017)

Evaluation and comparing of natural and forced solar dryer for mint drying in Khuzestan province

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