Abstract
Celery (Avium graveolens L.) has been naturally used to treat hypertension and cancer. Fresh celery contains a high water content of approximately ±86% which may lower the quality upon storage for a long time. Drying was applied to reduce moisture content in order to prolong the shelf-life. Drying of celery was carried out using a self-designed photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) solar dryer as well as conventional dryers such as oven and vacuum oven for the comparisons at an approximate temperature of 49°C. The PV/T solar dryer was able to simultaneously convert the solar energy into thermal and electrical energy. The electrical energy was in turn used to drive the blowers to create a forced convective flow of heat transfer. Drying in the PV/T solar dryer was carried out in 3 different weather conditions while 3 different pressures (10; 40; 70 kPa) were tested during drying in the vacuum oven. The PV/T solar dryers demonstrated the best results in terms of constant drying rate (0.986 kg H2O/min.m2) and drying time (87 minutes). Total chlorophyll content retained was 5.42 mg/L. The PV/T solar dryer seemed promising to be further developed for an efficient drying process since it required low energy consumption while using the costless renewable solar energy.
Highlights
Indonesia is amongst the world's richest nations in terms of its biodiversity including plants and herbs
The force convective mechanisms occurred as the results of self-driven blower was induced by electrical energy produced by the PV/T solar dryer
Drying of celery leaves in the self-designed PV/T solar dryer seemed superior in comparison with the other conventional drying methods such as oven and vacuum oven dryer in terms of constant drying rate, drying time, and chlorophyll content of final dried celery though operational temperature was hardly controlled
Summary
Indonesia is amongst the world's richest nations in terms of its biodiversity including plants and herbs. There are more than 30,000 herbs present in Indonesia, only 25% of them of which medicine efficacy have been known and only about 1,200 species have already been processed as raw materials for medicinal traditional herbs or so called jamu [1]. Celery (Avium graveolens L.) contains micronutrients, vitamins and phenolic compounds and widely used as herbs for lowering hypertension and for cancer prevention [2, 3]. Herbs as well as natural plants generally contain high moisture content which could accelerate the microbial growth leading to physical deterioration. An effective drying process is required to reduce the water content improving the shelf life of celery.
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