Study on performance evaluation of hybrid drier for turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) drying at village scale

Use of petroleum fuel or electricity for drying of agricultural produce is an expensive process at village scale in developing countries. Therefore, an appropriate technology for drying of agricultural produce has been developed and its performance for the drying of turmeric rhizomes has been evaluated. A direct type natural convection solar cum biomass drier was developed. The system is capable of generating an adequate and continuous flow of hot air temperature between 55 and 60 °C. Turmeric rhizomes were successfully dried in developed system. Dried turmeric rhizomes obtained under solar biomass (hybrid) drying by two different treatments viz., water boiling and slicing were similar in quality with respect to physical appearance like color, texture etc but there is significant variation in volatile oil. The quantitative analysis showed that the traditional drying i.e., open sun drying had taken 11 days to dry the rhizomes while solar biomass drier took only 1.5 days and produced better quality produce. The efficiency of the whole unit obtained was 28.57%.