Design and Development of a Belt Type Dryer for Drying Tamarind

Abstract

Tamarind pulp is the most valuable and commonly used part, which is acidic and is mostly used in Indian cuisines. After harvesting the tamarind fruit, it is dried under the open sun or by mechanical methods, which helps separate the outer hull and seeds manually or mechanically. The stickiness of the tamarind fruit is a major problem observed during deseeding, and it is done manually by beating the fruits with sticks. A belt conveyor type dryer was developed to reduce the moisture content of dehulled tamarind fruit to an optimal level for deseeding the fruits. The dehulled tamarind fruit was dried at three different temperatures (50, 60, & 70 oC), three different feed rates (5, 7.5 & 10 kg h-1) with an airflow rate of 1.5 m s-1. The optimized temperature, airflow rate, and feed rate were 60 oC, 1.5 m s-1 and 5 kg h-1, respectively. The moisture content of the tamarind fruit was reduced from 19 (% d.b.) to 11.35 (% d.b.) at the end of the drying process.