Design, Fabrication, Testing and Evaluation of a Sustainable Cabinet Dryer for Drying Cassava Chips

Abstract

The development of a sustainable cassava cabinet dryer requires a balanced approach to technological, economic and ecological aspects. The design – from conceptualization to design and performance evaluation – considered different input parameters and various structural design measures for durability and the ability for the selected materials to withstand thermally induced stress resultant on the drying process, in general and material selection for durable design, in particular. This work sets to design, construct and testing of the cassava chips cabinet dryer. The outcome of tests performed to evaluate the behaviour of the dryer shows that the drying time lies between 210 minutes and 240 minutes for tray 1 and 300 minutes and 330 minutes for tray 2 when compared to the drying time of sun-drying which lies between 720 minutes and 750 minutes. This shows that there is evidence of loss of moisture in all the cases. However, loss of moisture in tray 1 of the cabinet dryer appears to be better compared to others. In the real essence, loss of moisture in trays 1 and 2 is expected to occur at the same rate but due to the observed uneven distribution of warm air, and re-absorption of moisture by drying cassava chips, the drying rate differs. Thus, this can be corrected as further improvement on the design. Investment in this design will not only making cassava production much easier and reduce the wastage but will also have a great effect in the economy of the country as recorded to be the highest producer of cassava in the world. This dryer can as well be adapted and used to dry other food items. The optimum time for drying the cassava was estimated to be 133 minutes using multiple regression analysis.