Forced Convection Solar Drying: Experimental Investigation and Mathematical Modeling of Pork Strips

Abstract

Due to being a renewable energy, solar energy is widely used to numerous applications,especially the drying process. An indirect forced convection solar dryer with a solar air heater wasdeveloped and tested in this study. Comparative experiments between solar and open sun drying ofpork strips were carried out. Moisture ratios were fitted to five different mathematical models usingnon-linear regression analysis. Color of the dried products was also measured. The experimentalresults showed that to obtain the same final moisture content, open sun drying required 1.5 timeslonger drying period than the solar drying. The Page model was found to be most accurate fordescribing the solar drying curves of the two drying methods, with high coefficient of determination(R2) and low chi-square (χ2) and RMSE. Analyses of color revealed that pork processed by solardrying was more reddish and yellowish than that processed by open sun drying.