Solar drying of mushroom using solar tunnel dryer

Solar drying of Mushroom was conducted to investigate the performance of the solar tunnel dryer for drying mushrooms. The dryer consists of a transparent UV stabilized plastic covered flat plate collector and drying tunnel unit. The drier is arranged to supply hot air directly into the drying tunnel using three dc fans powered by a 40 watt solar module. The products to be dried are placed in a single layer on a wire mesh in the drying tunnel to receive energy from both hot air supplied from the collector and from the incident solar radiation on products. During the experimental period the minimum and maximum solar radiation were 273 W/m² and 885 W/m² respectively. The generated voltages for the 40 W solar modules were 4.5. V to 14.8 V. Temperatures in the drying chamber varied from 37.0° C to 66.5° C. Mushrooms were dried from about 89.41% to 6.14% moisture content (w.b) in about 8 hours. In the same drying period, the moisture content of mushrooms reduced from 89.41% to15% in the traditional sun drying method. In addition, the Mushroom being dried in the solar tunnel drier were completely protected from rain, insects and dust, and the dried mushrooms were high quality dried products terms of flavor, color and texture. As the fans are powered by a solar module, the drier could be used in rural areas where there is no supply of electricity from grid.

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