Vol. 12, Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
Srujana Eda, Dr. Prodyut Kumar Paul, Dr. Mutum Preema Devi, Dr. Shrilekha Das, Dr. Somnadh Mondal and Dr. Nandita Sahana

Abstract:
The present experiment was undertaken to design the ambient temperature dryer and to evaluate the efficiency with different desiccants at different quantities in the Department of Pomology and Post-Harvest Technology of UBKV, Pundibari. The proto type ambient temperature dryer is designed with compressor, desiccant bottles, drying chamber connector pipes, thermo-hygrometer and anemometer. Firstly, air is passed from air compressor to the desiccant chamber where the desiccant absorbs moisture from the air and pass dry air in to the drying chamber to absorb moisture from the commodity. To evaluate the efficiency of ambient temperature dryer with different desiccants viz., anhydrous CuSO₄, anhydrous CaCl₂, Silica and different weights viz., 250, 500 and 750 grams were taken. The experiment was conducted in Completely Randomized Factorial Design with the above two factors at equal levels and replicated thrice. It was concluded that the total capacity of outlet air to hold moisture was recorded to be 0.199, 0.209 and 0.228 kg of moist air during the entire operation of 360 minutes when silica with 250, 500 and 750 g respectively was used and the total moisture removed (68, 91 and 112 g) during the experimentation of 360 minutes was found to be best when silica with 250, 500 and 750 g was used. The data sets were analysed with the values of regression coefficient for different models and all the data sets were found to fitted best in power model for all the desiccants.