NATURAL CONVECTION CABINET TRAY DRYER USING AGRICULTURAL WASTE FUEL

ABSTRACT Drying is an important operation in the wet processing methods of food. The prohibitory factor in using a dryer at small scale or cottage industries level in developing countries is its high initial cost and scarcity of energy. An effort has been made to solve this problem by developing a tray type natural convection dryer costing about US $ 462 which can dry various food products. The tests conducted for drying of redgram, soydal (split soybean) and soyflakes from initial moisture content of 48.83, 62.80 and 30%, respectively, showed that drying time was 18, 15 and 6 hours with the thermal efficiencies of 17.32, 26.43 and 11.85 per cent. The cost of the dryer operation per shift of 8 hours was determined to be about $ 1.70.