Abstract:
ABSTRACT
This paper describes an experimental investigation of thin-layer drying characteristics of cassava for
a two-day period vis-à-vis a flat-plate dryer, rock-bed dryer and the traditional open air drying
layouts respectively. The experiments were carried out at Sokoto Energy Research Centre (SERC)
sunshine hours of diffuse insulation ranging from 240.6 to 977.9W/m2, relative humidity ranging
from 36.9 to 82.0%, ambient temperature ranging from 35.6 to 66.7oC and 35.4 to 69.3oC
respectively. The experiments started at 8:00am to end at 5:00pm local time on each day of two
days of exposure conditions. Microbial tests revealed neither fungi nor bacterial attacks. Proximate
analysis of the dried cassava showed that initial moisture content of the dried samples range
between 5.0 to 5.5% contents, ash content ranging between 1.0 to 3.5% contents, fat ranging
between 2.0 to 7.0%, crude fiber ranging from 1.4 to 4.4%, crude protein ranging 2.36 to 5.53% and
carbohydrate ranging from 84.34 to 88.24% while the fresh samples consisted of ranging from 59.0
to 66.0%
