The Effect of Temperature on Vermicelli Drying under Dehumidified Air

Abstract

Vermicelli, called Sohun, is a white noodle made of arenga starch. The vermicelli is commonly produced by small to medium enterprises. The process consists of mixing starch with hot water forming gel, forming the vermicelli noodle, drying, and packaging. Vermicelli drying is an important part, since it influences the product quality. Currently, the drying was simply done under sunlight. The drawback of the process is weather dependency both quality and continuity. The convective dryer with air dehumidification can be an option to substitute sunlight dryer. In this case, the air as drying medium was passed to adsorbent for reducing the absolute humidity. The dry air was then heated up to certain drying temperature. The research studied the effect of air temperature varied from 313.15 - 353.15 K on vermicelli drying. As a response, the moisture content in vermicelli was observed and thermal efficiency was estimated. Results showed that after 60 minutes drying under 353.15 K, the moisture content in vermicelli can reach below 14.0% and thermal efficiency was about 54%. The dry vermicelli also had good swelling capacity. Upper 353.15 K, the drying is not recommended since it probably reduces the vermicelli quality.