THIN-LAYER DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF CASSAVA (MANIHOT ESCULENTUS)

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%