Effectiveness of Cascara Sun drying using Aluminium Pan

The cascara drying process is usually done by drying wet coffee peels for about 5 days with open sun drying. This study evaluated the effectiveness of drying wet coffee peels into cascara by open sun drying on an aluminium. Analysis was carried out to determine the moisture content, drying rate, and drying efficiency. The material used was Arabica cherry coffee peels, which were dried using aluminium pans on the, drying floor. The decrease in cascara mass was recorded every 60 minutes, while solar irradiation was recorded every 0.5 minutes. The results showed that drying cascara using solar energy on aluminium pans took a shorter time, took only two days, compared to using solar energy on perforated racks. The resulting cascara moisture content was approximately 10.02 ± 0.25%. The initial drying rate is approximately 0.33 kg/h/m2 and the final drying rate reaches 0.04 ± 0.01 kg/h/m2. It is known that the higher the sunlight irradiation, the higher the drying rate when the material's moisture content is still high. Cascara drying efficiency ranges from 67.26% at the beginning of the drying process to 3.6% towards the end of the drying process. The use of an aluminium pan increased the effectiveness of sun drying.