DEVELOPMENT OF TWO -SIDED INCLINED MIXED-MODE SOLAR FISH DRYER

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.