Assessment of three different drying technologies (sun, solar and bin) used for the production of cassava (manihot esculenta crants) chips in Ghana

A thesis submitted to the School of Research and Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Science (Msc. Postharvest Technology) degree

An experiment was conducted to assess three different drying technologies (sun, solar and bin) used for the production of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crants) chips in Ghana. The study was conducted at Caltech Ventures Limited, Hodzo – Ho, and the CSIR - Food Research Institute (FRI) in Accra in January, 2011. Parameter studied included moisture content, pH, total titratable acidity, starch yield, bulk density and pasting characteristics. From the results, bin drying at 4kg loading density had the lowest moisture content of 6.77%. pH value of 6.38 were recorded for bin drying at loading density of 2kg and 4kg respectively. The lowest total titratable acidity of 0.24 was recorded for 2kg loading density under bin and sun drying while solar drying was at 3kg loading density. The starch yield of the cassava flour was higher in the sun drying (67.74%) than bin drying. Loading density of 2kg under sun drying had the highest starch yield of 69.46%. Bulk density of the flour was high in bin drying (0.74g/cm3). Pasting characteristics of the flour showed that cooking temperature of the flour was lowest in bin drying (67.93oC). The cassava flour from sun drying technology had the highest final viscosity of 289.78BU. Loading density of 2kg recorded the highest final viscosity of 278.44BU. Solar drying at 4kg loading density also resulted in the highest final viscosity of 293.44BU. Bin drying at 4kg loading density recorded the highest breakdown of value 413.00BU. Among the technologies, the highest setback value of 108.22BU was recorded by the cassava flour produced by bin drying technology. Bin drying at 2kg loading density also recorded the highest setback value of 121.33BU. Generally, drying using sun and solar technologies produced flours of acceptable pasting qualities suitable for industrial use.

KNUST