Tropentag, October 5 - 7, 2011 in Bonn "Development on the margin"

Influence of Pre-treatments on Drying Kinetics of Chilli Pepper

University of Kassel, Agricultural Engineering, Germany

Abstract

The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of pre-treatment on drying kinetics of chilli pepper at various air temperatures. Dehydration of agricultural product is energy intensive process in which energy expense constitute a major portion of drying cost. At temperatures of 35, 50, 60, 70, 90°C for pre-treated and untreated red chillis, the total drying time were determined experimentally. It was observed that as the temperature of drying air increases, drying time decreases for pre-treated as well as un-tread chillis but much shorter drying time could be achieved with application of pr-treatments. Because of availability of water and its low cost, blanching with hot water was found to be the best pre-treatment method relatively with shorter drying time. Based on the standard value of the final moisture content of dried material, i.e., 13.6 %( db), an optimum drying temperature was between 50°C and 60°C.

Keywords: Chilli pepper, drying kinetics, drying time, energy, moisture content, pre-treatment

Contact Address: Rebato Muhidin Seid, University of Kassel, Agricultural Engineering, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany, e-mail: rebatouni-kassel.de