Abstract:
A double sided inclined mixed-mode solar fish dryer was developed and its performance
evaluated. The dryer was made up of three main parts namely: The drying chamber of hardwood
sized (900 x 500 x 725) mm; drying tray made of wood joined with wiremesh (710 x 350 x 35)
mm constructed with a stainless wiremesh of 2.8 mm diameter and solar collectors fabricated
with (Omo) wood measured (470 x 360 x 100) mm and painted black. The dryer was tested on
no-load and on-load with salted and unsalted Alaska Pollock fishes (Gadus chalcogrammus).
The parameters taken were temperatures and weights. The product fish was weighed before and
after drying each day to determine the moisture loss. The product (Fish) was classified into three
groups namely: Unsalted Specimen (USP), Salted Specimen (SP) and Control (both for salted
and unsalted). At the end of experiment, mean moisture content SP, USP and Control were
11.07, 14.05 and 16.05 respectively. Proximate and Ultimate analyses carried out on the dried
products showed that the dryer preserve nutrients in the products than the direct sun drying. The
samples dried in the solar fish dryer were neat, clean and of high quality without any infestation.
