Study on the drying characteristics of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)
2008
Opina, K.K., Philippines Univ. Los Baños, College, Laguna (Philippines). Coll. of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology
Water hyacinth is considered one of the most invasive aquatic plants in the world. One of the solutions to this problem is by utilizing it as a source of fiber for handicrafts. This involves drying of water hyacinth which is a critical process since it influence the quality of the product and its strength. However, there are very limited studies regarding proper drying of this plant. There is a need to address these problems to be able to develop a solution to further improve the quality of the handicrafts produced in the Philippines using water hyacinth. This study determined the drying characteristics of water hyacinth. The effects of temperature (65 deg C, 80 deg C and 95 deg C), nature of the petioles (split in half or whole) and the section of the petioles on the drying rate, final moisture content, tensile strength, rehydration ratio, and percent shrinkage of the petioles were observed. It was found out that the temperature of 95 deg C and petioles split into half resulted in higher drying rate. All the parameters used for this study insignificantly affected the tensile strength of the dried plant. The bottom of the petiole yielded higher final moisture content (average of 14.23% MC) after drying. It was also found out that the rehydration ratio behaved inversely proportional to the percent shrinkage of the petiole. The top section of the dried petiole showed the lowest percent shrinkage (35.34%) with rehydration ratio of 4.25.
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