Drying Kinetic of Oven and Cabinet Dried Red Date Fruit
David Olumuyiwa Abodunrin1, Oyebola Odunayo Olabinjo2, Ebenezer Rotimi Adefidipe3, Dayo Hephzibah Oladebeye4, James Olaoye Akinyoola5

1David Olumuyiwa Abodunrin, Department of Agricultural Science and Technology, College of Technology, Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti.
2Oyebola Odunayo Olabinjo, Department of Agricultural and Bio-system Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure.
3Ebenezer Rotimi Adefidipe, Olusegun Obasanjo Centre for Engineering Innovations, The Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti.
4Dayo Hephzibah Oladebeye, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti.
5James Olaoye Akinyoola, Kay Netlogic International Concept, Research & Innovation Dept, Ado-Ekiti.
Manuscript received on 22 July 2022 | Revised Manuscript received on 18 September 2022 | Manuscript Accepted on 15 September 2022 | Manuscript published on 30 September 2022 | PP: 43-48 | Volume-11 Issue-10, September 2022 | Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijitee.G92280811922 | DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.G9228.09111022
Open Access | Ethics and Policies | Cite | Mendeley | Indexing and Abstracting
© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of pre-treatment technique (blanching) and temperature on the drying characteristics of the red date variety. Thin layer drying experiments were conducted at varying drying temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 °C using electrical laboratory oven and cabinet dryer with a constant air velocity of 1.4 m/s. Other sets of samples were blanched at 50 °C for 2-, 5- and 10-minutes before being dried at varying drying temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 °C respectively under the same drying conditions. The drying process took place mainly in the falling rate period indicating that the mechanism that governed moisture movement in the samples was diffusion.The drying curve showed that blanched red date fruits had higher drying rate than the un-blanched samples. The result is useful for farmers, researchers, and the processing industry in designing a reliable machine for processing red date fruit which will boost the small and medium scale production of the fruit in Nigeria. 
Keywords: Date Fruits, Drying Kinetics, Pre-Treatment, Blanching
Scope of the Article: Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering