TY  - BOOK
AU  - Asuncion, N. T. 
AU  - Gavino, R.B. 
AU  - Aguinaldo, T. G. 
AU  - Sicat, E.V.
TI  - Design, fabrication and performance evaluation of a belt conveyor dryer for drumstick (Moringa oleifera) leaves
SN  - 2619-6913
U1  - Per 635 As93 
KW  - Belt conveyor dryer
KW  - Moringa leaves
KW  - Optimum drying parameter
N1  - A belt conveyor dryer was designed, fabricated, and evaluated for drying moringa leaves. The conveyor dryer has three-layer of conveying system with effective belt loading area of 1.25m, with length of 2.17m and width of 0.576m. The dryer was composed of major components assembly, namely, power transmission, belt conveyor, blower, heater, and control panel. Performance of dryer was evaluated in terms of rate of moisture content (MC) reduction (%/h), rate of water activity (Aw) reduction (value/h), percentage recovery (%), power consumption (kW-h), drying efficiency (%), and overall change in color (E) of leaves using three drying temperatures (50+2, 60+2, 70+2 C) and residence times (40, 60, 80min). Drying process involved loading 800g (0.604kg/m) of fresh leaves with belt speed of 1.4mm/s, at 0.15m/s air speed inside drying chamber. Initial moisture content ranged from 69.12 to 72.45% with water activity value at 1.000 attained complete drying (MC8.0%; Aw 0.500) at 80, 60, and 40 min residence times at 50, 60, and 70C drying temperatures, respectively. The optimum drying parameter was concluded at 70C temperature at 40mins residence time with rate of moisture content reduction at 95.89%/h, rate of water activity reduction at 0.871/h, percentage recovery at 31.46%, power consumption at 4.01kW-h, drying efficiency at 91.92% obtained from complete drying performance. Overall color change of leaves obtained minimal at 60C for 60min (7.32), but with level of noticeable difference compared at 70C for 40min (9.55). Cost of the laboratory-scale dryer is P107,000.00 and the estimated cost of drying is P860.75/kg (powdered) of moringa leaves
ER  -