process intensification of solar dryer for food preservation

Abstract

The human body as well as animals needs food for their daily nutritional requirements. They got their nutritional requirements from food sources like grains, pulses, cereals, fruits and vegetables. These foods are rich in proteins and carbohydrates which provides energy to the human body. In this era of growing population, the demand of food supply is growing very rapidly. To maintain the balance between demand and supply of food, it is necessary to preserve the food for future needs. Along with this, wastage of food should also be avoided to proper supply of food globally. As many of the nations are facing food crisis now a days due to many factors like natural disasters, less production of crops, wars and improper management of food items. Preserved food helps in maintaining the availability of food all the time and reduces food crisis. In this modern world people are demanding for ready to eat food, which can also be fulfill by food preservation. All these situations are the indication of compulsion to preserve food anyway. newlineThe shelf life of food material can be enhanced by food preservation. It can be done in various ways such as freezing, pasteurization, drying, and cooling. Most of the methods of food preservation depend on conventional sources of energy which is not good for sustainable development of any nation. These resources present in very limited amount and these are depleting very rapidly. So, renewable energy sources are seeking attention as solar drying is a sustainable and affordable method of food preservation depends on solar energy. newlineSolar drying is an old but very efficient method for food preservation which utilizes solar energy and converts it into heat energy. Solar drying can be performed in three types such as open sun drying, closed solar drying (direct and indirect type) and mixed solar drying. In open sun drying, the food material is placed in direct exposure of sunlight which resul