Drying of banana fruits using a model of conveyor microwave drying technique
2002
Cumnueng Watyotha(Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen (Thailand). Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Agricultural Engineering)
Dried banana for snack food is one of the major products of Nam-wa variety processing that makes farmers income. The banana fruits are commonly dried by open-sum drying and LPG convection dryer, which took time for completing one batch of banana, is one the major factors causing time productivity problems. In order to improve the productivity, the microwave energy was applied to decrease the drying time. The peeled banana fruits were dried to the desired final moisture content, in microwave environment using a model of conveyor microwave drying technique, by 60 deg C air temperature and three levels of microwave density (0.24, 0.40 and 0.56 W/g). Drying time and energy requirement reduced drastically when higher levels of microwave were used. However, a lower power level should be recommended to maintain the maximum core temperature at 70 deg C for better product quality. At the microwave density of 0.24 W/g, the drying time and the energy requirement were about 60 and 70 percent of those of convective drying. The colour of final product was the same colour as product processed by a solar a solar dryer.
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